LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


9 


THE    WAR 


IN   THE 


UNITED    STATES 


EEPOET 

TO   THE 

SWISS  MILITARY  DEPARTMENT ;  PRECEDED  BY  A  DISCOURSE 
TO  THE  FEDERAL  MILITARY  SOCIETY  ASSEMBLED 
AT  BERNE,  AUG.  18,  1S62. 


BY 

FERDINAND  LECOMTE, 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL,  Swiss  CONFEDERATION: 

Author  of "  Relation  Historique  et  Critique  de  la   Campayne  d'ltalie  en  1859;"  "  L'ftalie  en  1860; 
and  "Le  GeniralJomini,sa  Vie  et  ses  Ecrits." 


NEW  YORK: 
D.    VAN   NOSTRAND,    192   BROADWAY. 

1863. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863,  by 
D.  VAN  NOSTRAXD, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


O.    A.   ALVORD,   BTEREOTYPER   AND   PRINTER. 


DISCOURSE 

ADDRESSED   TO   THE 

FEDERAL    MILITARY    SOCIETY, 

Assembled  in  Annual  Session  at  Berne,  August  18,  1S62. 


GENTLEMEN  OFFICERS  : 

About  two  months  since,  I  was  requested  by  our 
committee  to  say  something  at  this  meeting,  of  the 
war  in  North  America,  in  which  I  have  had  the 
honor  of  taking  a  feeble  part.  I  have  with  pleasure 
responded  to  this  appeal,  in  the  first  place,  because  it 
could  not  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  republicans 
that  I  should  speak  to  them  of  the  misfortunes  of 
another  republic ;  and  in  the  second,  because  I  was 
gratified  to  have  this  opportunity  of  rectifying  some 
errors  which  have  been  current  in  Europe,  in  regard 
to  these  transactions. 

Before  speaking,  or  rather,  before  speaking  to  you 
of  the  American  war,  I  ought  to  establish  the  causes 
of  it.  In  so  doing,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  enter  a  little 
upon  the  domain  of  politics.  It  is  nothing  surprising 
that  in  a  country  so  vast  as  the  United  States,  extend- 

225796 


4'  DISCOURSE   TO   THE 

ing  over  twenty-five  degrees  of  latitude,  comprising, 
therefore,  very  different  climates,  and  by  consequence 
different  manners, — reckoning  thirty-one  millions  of 
souls,  thirty-four  sovereign  States,  and  nine  territo 
ries,  all  accustomed  to  democratic  rule, — it  is  nothing 
surprising,  I  say,  that  in  such  a  country,  a  great 
number  of  parties  should  exist.  Ever  since  its  origin, 
the  struggles  of  parties  there  have  been  incessant  and 
active ;  but  the  sentiment  of  respect  for  law  had 
always  triumphed  over  the  malignity  of  these  con 
tests.  Kecently,  however,  this  has  not  been  the  case. 

Three  principal  parties  had  succeeded  in  establish 
ing  themselves.  One  was  that  of  the  Southern  popu 
lation,  inhabiting  a  fertile  soil,  enriching  themselves 
from  the  products  of  this  soil,  particularly  from  cot 
ton,  and  employing  in  its  culture  African  laborers, 
brought  by  force  to  this  country  and  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  slaves.  This  party  is  styled  Democratic, 
although  it  would  be  better  named  Oligarchic.  Its 
social  state  resembles  a  little  that  of  the  old  feudal 
lords,  or  the  patriarchs  of  the  East.  By  its  homoge- 
neousness,  as  opposed  to  the  multiple  interests  of  the 
ISTorth,  it  has  almost  always  succeeded  in  carrying  the 
candidates  of  its  choice,  in  the  elections  for  the  Presi 
dency. 

In  opposition  to  this  party  of  the  South,  or  Slave 
party,  is  found  one  called  the  Northern,  or  Republi 
can  party,  which  I  shall  define,  briefly,  by  saying 
that  it  is  almost  the  contrary  of  that  of  the  South. 


FEDEKAL    MILITARY    SOCIETY.  5 

Between  the  two  is  a  mixed  party,  preferring  above 
every  thing  else,  the  enjoyment  of  the  benefits  of  the 
Union,  and  making,  for  this  object,  concessions  on 
both  hands. 

'  At  the  last  Presidential  election,  there  were  four 
candidates  in  the  field  ;  .the  ballot  was  very  full  and 
regular ;  Mr.  Lincoln,  the  candidate  of  the  Eepubli- 
can  party,  was  elected.  The  Southern  States  then 
carried  into  actual  effect  the  threat  which  they  had 
long  made ;  and  with  South  Carolina  at  the  head,  de 
clared  for  a  separation  from  the  Union.  They  seized 
its  arsenals,  its  forts,  its  custom-houses,  its  posts; 
blockaded  its  garrisons ;  and  finally  bombarded  the 
Federal  garrison  of  Fort  Snmter,  the  first  act  of  hos 
tility  of  the  actual  campaign. 

It  became  necessary  for  the  Union  also  to  take  arms, 
to  re-establish  the  authority  of  the  Constitution  and 
the  laws.  Unfortunately,  if  the  Union  is  well  organ 
ized  to  cause  the  arts  of  peace  to  flourish,  it  has  the 
worst  possible  adaptation  for  the  direction  of  war. 
-There  is  wanting  to  it  the  very  first  instrument  of  a 
government,  an  army.  It  lacks,  besides,  unity  of  com 
mand  and  strength  of  government.  There  is  a  super 
abundance  of  criticism,  and  of  political  wheel-work, 
which  complicate  the  progress  of  military  affairs.  It 
is  nothing  surprising  that  the  first  demonstrations  of  the 
K or th  had  been  marked  by  reverses  ;  and  had  ended 
in  the  defeat  of  Bull  Eun,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1861. 
But  the  North  persisted ;  gave  a  better  organization 


6  DISCOURSE    TO    THE 

to  its  forces  ;  levied  five  hundred  thousand  men  ;  and 
in  this  second  campaign  obtained  great  successes. 
It  might  almost  have  been  believed,  last  June,  that 
the  war  would  terminate, — the  great  war,  I  mean, — 
before  Richmond  ;  when  new  reverses,  on  the  Cliicka- 
hominy,  and  in  the  Shenandoah,  caused  the  Feder 
als  to  replace  themselves  on  the  defensive,  and  begin 
another  campaign  with  new  levies; 

The  war  therefore  will  continue,  for  the  Union 
persists  more  than  ever  in  wishing  to  re-establish  the 
unity  of  its  territory  ;  and,  besides,  peace,  in  the  actual 
condition  of  things,  would  be  only  a  truce  of  some 
years,  wholly  for  the  advantage  of  the  South.  The 
war  will  therefore  be  pursued  ;  and  I  permit  myself 
to  express  publicly  here  my  lively  and  sincere  wishes 
for  the  final  triumph  of  the  North. 

I  express  these  wishes,  because  secession  is  an  ille 
gality :  it  is  contrary  to  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Federal  Constitution,  to  the  spirit  of  every  Con 
stitution,  and  of  every  organization  of  political  society 
whatever.  If  it  is  allowed  to  one  of  the  parties  to  a. 
contract  sanctioned  by  all,  to  withdraw  himself  from 
it  without  the  consent  of  the  others ;  if  it  is  allowed 
to  South  Carolina  to  separate  herself  from  the  old 
Union,  how  can  the  right  be  refused  to  Virginia,  for 
example,  to  separate  herself  from  the  new?  How 
can  the  right  be  refused  to  a  county,  or  subordinate 
division  (commune),  to  separate  itself  from  the  State  ; 
to  a  family  to  withdraw  itself  from  the  county ;  to 


IEDEEAL    MILITARY    SOCIETY.  7 

an  individual  to  liberate  himself  from  society,  and 
to  arm  himself  against  it  ?  This  doctrine  of  secession 
leads  straight  to  anarchy,  and  is  only,  at  bottom,  a 
subtle  theory  of  the  right  of  force  and  of  barbarism. 

I  express  also  my  wishes  for  the  Union,  because 
secession  is  an  injustice,  and  an  iniquitous  act.  Let 
it  be  granted  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  country  may 
quit  it  en  masse  ;  it  may  be  admitted  that  they  have 
a  right  to  do  so,  and  that  in  so  doing  they  injure 
chiefly  themselves.  But  that  they  should  carry  away 
the  territory,  which  is  a  property  of  the  State,  is 
another  thing.  The  frontiers  would  be  changed,  as 
well  as  the  conditions  of  prosperity  and  security  to 
those  who  remain.  The  Union  is  an  entirety,  an  edi 
fice  which  has  been  in  course  of  erection  for  a  long 
period,  and  not  a  heap  of  pebble  stones  thrown  pell- 
mell  the  one  beside  the  other.  If  one  of  the  fractions 
of  this  edifice,  if  a  single  panel  of  the  wall,  is  with 
drawn,  it  is  not  only  the  removal  of  that  panel,  which 
is  produced,  but  the  falling  in  of  the  whole. 

In  the  particular  case,  it  is  to  strip  the  Union  of 
advantages  which  it  has  acquired  at  the  price  of 
heavy  sacrifices.  It  is  the  Union  which  has  aggran 
dized  the  South,  and  led  her  to  a  height  of  riches  and 
power  which  cause  her  to  think  to-day  of  her  sepa 
ration.  It  was  the  Union  which  purchased  Louisiana 
for  sixty  millions  of  francs  from  the  Emperor  Napo 
leon  ;  it  was  the  Union,  and  not  the  South,  which 
purchased  Florida ;  which  has  procured  the  annexa- 


DISCOURSE    TO    THE 

tion  of  Texas ;  which,  made  war  against  Mexico, 
against  the  English,  and  has  several  times  come  near 
getting  into  a  war  with  Spain, — having  been  thrown 
.into  these  troubles  chiefly  by,  and  for  the  advantage 
'of,  the  Southern  States.  If  the  Union  has  made  these 
sacrifices,  it  is,  in  part,  in  order  to  have  possession  of 
the  outlet  of  her  great  artery  of  navigation  in  the 
west,  the  Mississippi,  which  she  cannot  leave  in  hos 
tile  hands  ;  it  is  to  open  for  herself  an  access  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  ;  to  have  the  anchorages  necessary  for 
her  marine  upon  the  Atlantic  :  and  she  has  succeeded, 
in  fact,  in  becoming  a  great  maritime  nation.  To 
take  from  her  three-fourths  of  her  coasts,  as  the  South 
wishes  to  do,  and  the  outlets  of  her  great  basins,  is 
entirely  to  change  her  situation,  and  to  strip  her  of 
that  which  constitutes  her  strength.  It  is,  in  a  word? 
to  strike  a  death-blow  at  the  Union. 

Does  any  great  idea,  any  supreme  interest  of  hu 
manity,  any  political  principle,  at  least,  religious  or 
national,  inflame  the  Southern  mind  in  its  culpable 
enterprise  ?  Alas,  no !  It  is  not  for  the  assertion  of 
the  rights  of  a  particular  nationality,  since  all  the  in 
habitants  of  the  South  as  well  as  of  the  North,  are, 
in  large  majority,  of  the  same  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and 
speak  the  same  English  tongue.  Nor  is  it  undertaken 
in  the  name  of  a  religious  principle,  as  was  the  thirty 
years'  war.  Not  only  are  the  people  all  Christians, 
but  the  great  mass  at  the  South,  as  well  as  the  North, 
belongs  to  the  same  Protestant  confession,  to  the 


FEDERAL    MILITARY    SOCIETY.  9 

same  church  system,  to  independent  churches,  free 
from  all  connection  with  the  State.  Political  diver 
gences  are  not  more  sensible.  All  are  democratic; 
the  constitutions  of  the  different  States,  North  and 
South,  are  almost  identical ;  a  legislative  power  of 
two  chambers,  a  governor  as  the  executive  power, 
universal  suffrage,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  the  right 
of  association,  etc.,  are  common  features  of  all  these 
constitutions. 

In  spite  of  all  that,  it  should  be  avowed  that  there 
is  an  idea  in  this  raising  of  the  shield  of  the  South, 
but  a  detestable  idea.  Slavery,  which  she  believes  to 
be  in  danger  (and  she  is  right),  has  put  arms  in  her 
hands.  It  is  fur  the  defence,  it  is  for  the  great  glory 
of  this  abominable  institution,  which  shames  the 
civilization  and  the  Christian  sentiments  of  our  age, 
that  she  has  put  herself  at  war  with  her  brethren. 

It  is  pretended  in  Europe,  I  am  aware,  that  slavery 
is  not  at  stake  in  this  war.  Nothing  equals  the 
falsity  of  this  assertion,  except  its  effrontery.  It  is 
besides  enhanced  by  a  certain  malice,  which  demands 
some  examination. 

No  !  slavery  is  not  at  issue  in  this  war,  if  it  is 
thought  that  the  North  has  undertaken  a  sanguinary 
crusade  against  the  South  to  bring  about  the.  imme 
diate  emancipation  of  all  the  blacks,  without  giving 
herself  any  uneasiness  about  the  difficulties  in  the 
way,  and  about  certain  economic  necessities.  With 
out  doubt  there  is  a  party  in  the  North,  a  party 
I* 


10  DISCOURSE   TO   THE 

ardent,  vigorous,  and  embracing  a  great  number  of 
men  of  talent  and  of  faith,  which  would  be  inclined 
to  proceed  in  this  manner,  because  it  thinks  tha^ 
slavery  is  at  the  same  time  an  evil  so  great,  and  a 
crime  so  horrible,  that  no  consideration  tending  to 
retard  its  suppression,  can  be  put  in  comparison  with 
it.  But  this  party,  if  it  is,  perhaps,  the  very  nucleus' 
of  the  great  Northern  party,  is  not  its  head,  and  if  its 
ideas  are  generally  admitted  in  principle,  its  means 
of  execution  are  reprobated. 

By  the  side  of  this  party  is  found  another,  or 
rather  another  shade  of  party,  which  is  composed  of 
men  not  less  convinced,  but  more  practical,  more 
careful  of  the  consequences  of  their  acts,  and,  besides, 
placed  under  a  heavy  responsibility,  since  its  princi 
pal  members  are  of  the  government.  This  party 
can  be  judged  by  its  acts,  which  are  official  decisions. 
It  is  seen  by  these  that  this  party  too  desires  the  sup 
pression  of  slavery,  but  that  it  desires  to  proceed 
towards  the  end  more  calmly,  and  more  surely  than 
the  abolitionists.  It  wishes  to  adhere  to  the  law,  as 
far  as  possible,  and  to  avoid  revolutionary  and  violent 
measures.  Thus  it  has  given  the  example,  within  the 
limits  of  its  power,  and  decreed  the  enfranchisement 
of  the  slaves  within  the  Federal  District  of  Columbia, 
with  indemnity  to  the  proprietors.  This  the  South 
always  opposed. 

The  Federal  Government  has  also  decided,  using  a 
right  recognized  for  every  belligerent,  to  confiscate 


FEDERAL    MILITARY    SOCIETY.  11 

the  slaves  of  its  adversaries  in  arms,  and  to  liberate 
them  ;  all  the  fugitive  blacks  which  have  been  em 
ployed  in  the  war,  are  also  declared  free.  It  is 
readily  seen  that  the  war  will  result,  by  this  single 
means,  in  the  liberation  of  a  great  number  of  slaves. 
I  may  observe  further,  that  there  are  already  forty 
thousand  in  this  condition.  The  Congress  of  Wash 
ington  has  followed  by  proclaiming  emancipation  as 
an  object  of  public  utility  ;  and  the  resources  of  the 
Union  will  be  pledged  to  all  the  States  which  may 
wish  to  rid  themselves  of  this  plague.  Severe 
measures  have  been  taken  against  the  trade  in  con 
trabands,  and,  finally,  a  slave-trader  has  been  exe 
cuted  in  New  York,  which,  in  view  of  the  rareness  of 
the  fact,  has  produced  a  great  and  salutary  sensation. 
In  fine,  the  Northern  party  has  showrn  that  it  did  not 
wish  only  the  emancipation  of  the  slave,  but  also  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  negro  race,  still,  from  a  con 
descension  to  the  Southern  spirit,  too  much  despised 
even  in  the  North.  The  liberated  blacks  will  re 
ceive  territories  which  they  will  colonize,  and  wrhich 
they  will  be  able,  one  day,  to  have  admitted  into  the 
Union  by  the  same  title  as  the  others.  The  black 
republics  of  Hayti  and  Liberia  have  been  recognized, 
to  which  the  South  was  always  opposed  ;  and,  hence 
forth,  black  ambassadors  will  be  reckoned  in  the 
diplomatic  corps  at  Washington. 

It  is  seen,  therefore,  that  on  the  side  of  the  North, 
slavery  is  a  decided  interest  in  the  war ;  and  whether 


12  DISCOURSE    TO    THE 

it  be  continued,  or  whether  the  government  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  shall  soon  enter  upon  the  full  exercise  of  its 
authority,  the  solution  of  this  great  problem  will  be 
positively  advanced.  In  this  it  is  by  no  means 
intended  to  say  that  the  Federal  Government  intends 
to  place  itself  in  opposition  to  legal  rights,  and  to  the 
Constitution,  which  it  represents. 

But  if  we  direct  our  attention  particularly  to  the 
South,  we  see  that  slavery  is  its  great  motive  to  the 
war.  The  people  of  the  South  do  not  wish  to  hear  a 
word  spoken  of  abolition,  either  gradual  or  imme 
diate.  They  wish,  on  the  contrary,  to  cause  to  be 
recognized  their  right  to  extend  slavery  into  all  the 
territories,  and  to  cause  this  right  to  be  protected. 
Slavery  has  become,  for  these  populations,  not  only  a 
fact,  useful  or  injurious  according  to  the  several 
points  of  view,  but  a  doctrine  which  has  penetrated 
all  institutions,  a  dogma  which,  according  to  them, 
ought  to  command  the  respect  of  the  entire  world. 
Their  constitution  determines  the  consequences  of 
slavery  ;  their  discourses,  their  proclamations,  their 
conversations,  their  threats,  their  complaints,  their 
history,  and  especially  the  recent  troubles  of  Kansas, 
all  testify  that  it  is  slavery- — its  prosperity,  its  ex 
tension,  the  fear  of  its  diminution, — which  has  thrown 
the  South  into  the  war.  Their  priests  even  preach 
the  sanctity  of  it.  And  fur  every  man  not  prejudiced, 
it  remains  certain,  that  if  the  South  has  refused  to 
recognize,  the  act  of  the  majority  of  the  nation  of 


FEDERAL   MILITAKY    SOCIETY.  13 

which  it  has  formed  a  constituent  part ;  if  it  has 
brutally  torn  the  Constitution,  to  whose  observance 
it  has  sworn  ;  if  it  desires  the  destruction  of  the 
Union  which  has  afforded  it  protection,  and  of  a 
country  of  which  the  prodigious  increase  and  pros 
perity  have  demonstrated  the  importance  in  the 
world  ; — if  the  South  wishes  to  commit  this  double 
crime,  it  is  that  she  may  the  more  readily  commit 
one  greater  still, — that  of  the  maintenance  and  exten 
sion  of  slavery. 

This  being  so,  how  happens  it  that  Europe,  which 
prides  itself  on  being  humane  and  Christian,  receives 
with  so  much  bitterness  every  thing  which  is  favor 
able  to  the  Xorth  in  this  crisis,  and  seems  to  devote 
all  its  sympathies  to  the  South  ?  It  is  for  a  very  sim 
ple  reason.  Let  me  be  permitted  to  say  it  frankly, 
without  being  accused  of  going  in  quest  of  sound 
ing  words:  it  is  because  Europe,  covered  for  the 
most  part  with  oligarchic  and  despotic  institutions, 
hates  democracies  in  general,  and  the  great  Ameri 
can  Republic  in  particular. 

We  Swiss,  although  we  may  be  but  a  small  State, 
although  we  may  believe  ourselves  weak,  and  that 
we  should  willingly  respect  our  obligations  of  Euro 
pean  neutrality,  which  are  in  other  respects  such  as 
are  agreeable  to  us,  already  know  something  of  this 
matter. 

But  the  union  of  the  United  States  occasions 
greater  umbrage.  It  is,  or  rather  it  was,  a  great  de- 


14:  DISCOURSE    TO    THE 

mocracy,  rich,  prosperous,  improvising  on  the  instant 
armies  of  a  million  of  men  ;  possessing  a  military 
marine  which  at  this  time,  thanks  to  its  improve 
ments,  is  the  first  of  the  world  ;  proclaiming  its  polit 
ical  liberties  to  all ;  preaching  them  by  her  example ; 
not  recognizing  any  slavish  obligation  of  neutrality, 
and  putting  herself  in  alliance  or  in  war  with  whom 
soever  it  may  seem  good  to  her,  without  rendering 
any  account  of  her  conduct  to  any  one.  This  country 
gives  offence  because  she  is  not  only  strong,  but  every 
day  a  little  less  removed  from  Europe.  Fifty  years 
ago  the  passage  was  reckoned  in  months  ;  twenty 
years  ago  it  was  counted  only  by  weeks ;  to-day 
it  is  by  days, — ten  days.  In  twenty  years,  without 
doubt,  it  will  be  less  still.  And  then  it  is  a -disa 
greeable  country  as  a  neighbor ;  blacksmiths  there 
become  Presidents  of  the  republic  ;  printers'  laborers 
become  ministers ;  carpenters  and  boys  of  the  coffee 
house,  become  senators  and  generals,  and  good  gen 
erals  too.  The  poor  fugitive,  embarked  from  Europe 
with  his  wallet  and  love  of  liberty  as  his  whole  for 
tune,  finds  there  a  sure  asylum — more  than  an  asy 
lum  ;  a  country  which  gives  him  a  good  reception  if 
he  is  honest  arid  courageous ;  which  facilitates  his 
labors  in  the  interior ;  which  protects  him  at  a  dis_ 
tance,  as  at  Smyrna,  against  arbitrary  power;  which 
enriches  him  if  he  is  active  and  enterprising  ;  which 
raises  him  in  consideration,  and  even  sends  him  back 
to  Europe,  who  drove  him  from  her,  as  the  Ambassa- 


FEDERAL   MILITARY    SOCIETY.  15 

dor  of  a  great  people.  Ah  !  yes,  it  is  perhaps  disagree 
able  for  some  persons  in  Europe  to  see  their  ports 
approach  such  a  nation,  which  not  only  represents  an 
opposite  principle,  but  presents  herself  sometimes  as 
a  living  reproach.  And  then,  say  they,  these  Ameri 
cans  are  so  rude,  so  abrupt,  haughty,  boastful,  im 
pertinent,  insolent,  egotistic,  thinking  only  of  making 
money.  It  is  true  that  it  is  added  also  to  these  griefs, 
that  they  speak  through  the  nose ;  that  they  chew 
their  tobacco  with  their  mouths  full ;  that  they  spit 
on  the  boots  of  their  neighbor ;  that  they  place  their 
feet  upon  the  table,  and  that  they  forget  often  to  take 
out  the  handkerchief  to  blow  the  nose.  But  if  they 
have  not,  as  the  ancient  aristocracy  of  our  Europe, 
the  monopoly  of  all  the  graces,  they  have,  on  the 
other  hand,  solid  qualities. 

They  are  free  of  heart;  they  are  firm  of  character; 
they  are  good  parents  ;  they  are  proud  citizens  ;  they 
have  a  consciousness  of  their  republican  dignity  ;  they 
are  pious;  they  are  laborious  ;  and  to  them  it  belongs 
more  than  to  any  others  to  say,  with  our  beautiful 
national  song  :  "  We  have  no  master  but  God."* 

Then,  besides,  they  are  inventive,  ingenious,  they 
have  a  fever  for  business,  a  passion  for  progress  ;  they 
have  covered  their  soil  with  canals,  with  railroads  and 
telegraphs,  reaping  a  harvest  for  the  United  States 
as  do  the  ordinary  roads  for  Europe.  They  have 

*  Excepte  Dieu,  nous  n'avous  point  de  raaitres. 


16  DISCOURSE   TO   THE 

pushed  the  boldness  of  their  marine  to  the  limits  of 
the  impossible ;  they  have  opened  immense  territories 
.to  colonization  ;  snatched  from  the  earth  its  most 
hidden  mineral  treasures,  and  spanned  the  arms  of 
the  sea  by  gigantic  bridges.  They  follow  and  outstrip 
everywhere,  the  English  in  their  commercial  explora 
tions  ;  they  have  created  a  thousand  sources  of  pros 
perity  for  individuals,  all  the  while  advancing  the 
arts  of  civilization  and  the  reign  of  Christianity. 
They  had  demonstrated  the  possibility  of  a  great  de 
mocracy,  the  creative  power  of  liberty,  whatever  an 
august  voice  may  have  said,  which  pretended,  not 
long  ago,  that  liberty  was  good  only  to  serve  as  an 
ornament  to  an  edifice  founded  without  it. 

This  was  enough  to  draw  upon  her  the  rancor  of 
despotic  and  oligarchic  Europe.  She  has,  however, 
herself  not  been  at  fault.  For  fifty  years  these  blows 
have  been  falling  upon  the  United  States,  and  they 
are  attacked  to-day  with  more  fury  than  ever. 

With  what  were  they  reproached  not  long  since  ? 
It  was  particularly  with  habits  of  lawlessness  and  of 
turbulence ;  the  troubles  of  Kansas ;  the  licentious 
band  of  filibusters  against  Mexico,  against  Cuba,  &c. 

And  to-day,  when  the  Union,. beholding  the  rise  of 
a  monstrous  violation  of  law,  sets  herself,  as  in  duty 
bound,  to  re-establish  the  authority  of  the  national 
law,  Europe  takes  part  for  the  rebels!  Rebellion, 
which  is  a  crime  on  tin's  side  of  the  ocean,  in  Hungary, 
in  Venice,  in  the  Ionian  Isles,  in  the  streets  of  Paris, 


FEDEltAL   MILITARY    SOCIETY.  17 

in  the  East  Indies,  and  that  nnder  governments  which 
do  not  boast  of  their  clemency,  becomes  a  right  in 
the  West  Indies,  a  holy  thing  against  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  which  asks  only  of  those  subject 
to  her  authority  to  refrain  from  pillaging  her  posts, 
her  custom-houses,  and  her  arsenals  !  Strange  con 
tradiction,  which  is,  however,  not  the  greatest. 

"With  the  shameful  plague  of  slavery,  the  immense 
success  obtained  by  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin"  was 
brought  to  mind ;  the  ovations  to  its  author ;  then 
the  complaints  of  the  English  against  the  American 
traders  in  contraband  ;  the  reproaches  addressed  to 
the  United  States  in  1854,  because  they  chose  to  re 
main  absolute  neutrals  between  the  allies  and  Russia. 
It  was  well  worthy  of  the  slave  republic,  said  they, 
to  ally  herself  with  the  Muscovite  empire  and  her 
serfs.  Russia,  under  the  impulse  of  her  liberal  em 
peror  of  the  day,  proceeds  boldly  to  the  establishment 
of  equality,  and  Europe  applauds  the  act.  The 
United  States  do  the  same ;  they  do  more ;  they  are 
thrown  into  a  war  which  should  decide  the  future  of 
slavery,  and  Europe  turns  upon  them  her  back,  to 
avow  her  sympathies  for  the  States  of  the  South. 

She  pretends  that  her  interest  imposes  upon  her  this 
policy.  What !  a  great  country  suffers  from  a  crisis 
whose  effects  are  recognized  to  extend  also  to  Europe  : 
the  question  is  to  know,  not  only  whether  cotton  shall 
be  more  or  less  abundant,  but  whether  four  millions  of 
human  beings  who  produce  it,  shall  be  condemned  to 


18      DISCOURSE   TO   THE   FEDERAL   MILITARY    SOCIETY. 

a  degradation  as  durable  as  their  descendants,  and 
Europe^  an  accomplice  in  these  struggles  by  her  abo 
lition  agitations,  should  concern  herself  with  the 
consequences,  only  in  so  far  as  regards  the  cotton 
ports  and  her.  manufactures!  In  opposition  to  the 
cross  of  the  Gospel,  which  the  North  places  upon  her 
banner,  it  is  Europe  which  would  elevate  the  golden 
calf!  1  refuse  to  believe  it. 

I  do  not  wish  to  examine,  in  order  not  to  abuse 
your  attention,  what  are  the  pretended  interests,  so 
superior,  which  are  invoked  here,  and  which  come  so 
seasonably  to  support  the  political  rancor-  which  I 
have  indicated  ;  for  when  I  see  before  me  great  prin 
ciples  of  Christian  equality  applying  themselves  to 
four  millions  of  men  in  one  scale  of  the  balance,  I 
have  no  idea  of  any  mercantile  interest  whatever, 
daring  to  place  itself  in  the  other.* 


*  Lieutenant-Colonel  Le  Comte  then  reads  some  fragments  of  his  re 
port  to  the  Military  Department,  and  the  assembly,  on  the  proposition 
of  M.  the  Federal  Colonel  Kurz,  decide  to  have  it  published.  It  is  to 
respond  to  this  desire  that  the  "  Swiss  Military  Review"  commences  to 
day  the  present  publication. 


REPORT 


TO   THE 


SWISS  MILITARY   DEPARTMENT. 


M.  THE  FEDERAL  COUNSELLOR  : 

Returned  happily  to  Switzerland  from  the  cam 
paign  which  you  had  authorized  me  to  make  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  by  your  honored  letter  of 
the  llth  December,  1861,  I  have  the  honor  of  sub 
mitting  to  you  the  following  report : 

I  ought  to  state  in  the  first  place,  that,  thanks  to 
my  quality  of  a  Swiss  federal  officer,  and  to  the  re 
commendations  of  the  Federal  Military  Department ; 
to  those  of  General  Dufour  ;  of  M.  Fogg,  Ambassador 
of  the  United  States  at  Berne  ;  and  of  some  other 
persons,  I  was  very  well  received  by  Mr.  Seward, 
Secretary  of  State,  by  Mr.  Stanton,  Secretary  of  War, 
by  General  McClellan,  at  that  time  commanding 
in  chief  all  the  Federal  forces,  as  also  by  our  consuls 
at  New  York  and  Washington,  De  Luze  and  Hitz. 

O  7 

General  McClellan,  whose  head-quarters  were  then 


20  REPORT   TO   THE 

at  "Washington,  deigned  to  attach  me  to  his  staff  as 
voluntary  aide  de-camp,  retaining  my  Swiss  rank  of 
Major,  and  with  the  condition  of  being  able  to  return 
at  any  time  to  my  country,  should  I  be  called  thither 
by  my  government.  I  met,  on  the  staff  of  General 
McClellan,  with  several  European  officers,  who  were 
held  in  that  position  with  the  same  title  as  myself. 

I  have  already  had  the  honor,  M.  Federal  Counsel 
lor,  of  presenting  to  you  at  Berne  the  letters  of  leave 
which  were  delivered  to  me  by  General  McClellan 
and  by  the  Secretary  of  War. 


THEATRE  OF  WAR. — GENERAL   STATISTICAL  AND  GEO 
GRAPHICAL  NOTIONS. 

For  the  understanding  of  the  observations  which  I 
desire  to  present  under  this  head,  it  is  necessary  that 
I  recall  briefly  some  of  the  principal  features  of  the 
country. 

The  United  States  of  America,  the  theatre  of  the 
existing  civil  war,  constitute  a  vast  federative  republic, 
of  thirty-four  States  and  nine  Territories.  Bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  British  Possessions  ;  on  the  west 
by  the  Pacific  Ocean ;  on  the  south  by  the  republic 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  and  on  the  east  by  the 
Atlantic  Ocean, — she  comprises  an  extent  of  three 


SWISS   MILITARY  DEPAETMENT.  21 

millions  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  square  miles, 
that  is  to  say,  an  area  almost  equal  to  that  of  all  Eu 
rope. 

In  respect  to  its  physical  structure,  the  country 
comprises  five  great  regions : 

1st.  The  basin  of  the  Atlantic,  extending  the  whole 
length  of  the  coast  of  this  sea, — a  low  plain,  reckoning 
a  great  number  of  water-courses ; 

2d.  The  region  of  the  Alleghanies,  an  undulating 
table-land  of  fifty  leagues  in  width,  on  the  average, 
and  of  small  elevation  ; 

3d.  The  immense  basin  of  the  Mississippi  and  its 
affluents,  comprising  therein  the  prairies  of  the  "West ; 

4th.  The  chains  and  the  plateaus  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains, — an  arid  and  almost  desert 'country ; 

5th.  The  Pacific  basin,  at  the  extreme  west  of  the 
continent. 

It  is  in  the  basins  of  the  Mississippi  and  of  the  At 
lantic,  that  are  found  the  two  principal  theatres  of  the 
present  war. 

It  is  not  useless  to  remark  that  these  five  divisions 
extend  from  north  to  south,  over  the  whole  terri 
tory  of  the  United  States,  between  25°  ajid  29 !  of 
latitude,  without  any  great  transverse  intersection 
<>-•-' -nrriiig  to  divide  the  country  geographically  into 
North  and  South. 

The  total  population  of  the  United  States  is  about 
thirty-one  millions  and  a  half  of  inhabitants,  of  which 
nearly  four  millions  are  bla  -k  slaves,  and  four  hun- 


22  REPORT   TO   THE 

drcd  thousand  red  skin  Indians.  The  census  of  1860 
proves,  during  the  last  ten  years,  an  increase  of  popu 
lation,  of  about  eight  million  souls,  of  which  nearly 
one  million  are  blacks. 

The  immense  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
North  and  of  the  South  are  of  the  same  race — the 
Anglo-Saxon ;  of  the  same  language — the  English  ; 
and  of  the  same  religion — the  Protestant. 

The  ways  of  communication  are  numerous  in  the 
inhabited  countries.  The  great  development  of  the 
coasts,  and  of  the  navigable  interior  waters,  the 
canals,  the  railroads,  present  vast  means  of  circula 
tion.  The  soil  of  the  North  and  of  the  Northwest  of 
the  United  States,  is  interlaced  with  iron  ways  ;  and 
it  may  be  said  that  there  are  as  many  of  them  as  of 
ordinary  roads,  in  many  parts  of  Europe  far  ad 
vanced  in  government. 

One  may  convince  himself  of  this  by  the  subjoined 
table  of  railroads  in  1862.*  I  sho  ild  not  pretend  to 
present  an  exact  statement,  which  would  not  have 
possessed  great  importance  in  a  military  point  of 
view,  since  one  may  go  almost  everywhere  by  rail 
way, — having  myself  been  already  conveyed  over  ten 
thousand  leagues  of  this  kind  of  road,  distributed 
amongst  more  than  seventy  companies. 

There  are  ten  grand  arteries  connecting  the  Atlantic 
with  the  Mississippi,  and  as  many  descending  from  the 
Lakes  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Atlan- 

*  Not  printed. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  23 

tic.  A  short  time  hence,  a  railroad  will  connect  the 
Mississippi  with,  the  Pacific,  across  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains. 

The  principal  centres  of  the  networks,  or  rather  oi 
the  skeins,  of  railroad  are  :  the  cities  of  New  York? 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Richmond,  Cincin 
nati,  St.  Louis,  Louisville,  Nashville,  Indianapolis, 
Milwaukie,  Chicago,  Buffalo,  Cleveland,  &c.  The 
principal  gaps  are  observed  to  be  in  the  South. 

On  the  other  hand,  at  the  South,  as  well  as  the 
North,  ordinary  routes  and  neighborhood  roads  are 
rather  rare  than  abundant. 

The  parties  to  the  struggle  are,  on  the  one  side,  the 
regular  and  lawful  government  of  the  Union,  sup 
ported  by  twenty-one  States  of  the  North ;  and  on 
the  other,  a  certain  number  of  States,  all  of  the  South, 
and  all  slave  States,  which  have  successively  increased 
to  the  number  of  eleven,  and  joined  in  one  Confed 
eracy. 

The  different  denominations  in  vogue  for  the  dis 
tinction  of  the  parties  in  the  strife,  are,  on  the  one 
hand  : 

The  States  of  the  North— Unionists,  Federals, 
Loyals,  Free  State  men,  Republicans,  Yankees. 

And  on  the  other  side  : 

States  of  the  South — Slave  States,  Confederates, 
•Secessionists,  Separatists,  Rebels. 

The  first  are : 

California,  Connecticut,  Delaware,  Illinois,  Indiana, 


2i  KEPOKT   TO   THE 

Iowa,  Kansas,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts, 
Michigan,  Minnesota,  New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey, 
New  York,  Ohio,  Oregon,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode 
Island,  Vermont,  Wisconsin. 

Total,  twenty-one  States  ;  of  which  two  only  (Dela 
ware  and  Maryland)  are  slave  States. 

The  secession,  or  rebel  States,  according  to  the  ap 
pellation  of  the  North,  which  refuses  them  the  name 
of  belligerents,  are : 

Alabama,  Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  South  Caro 
lina,  Florida,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Tennes 
see,  Texas,  Virginia. 

Total,  eleven  States, — all  slave  States. 

Kentucky,  a  slave  State,  solicited  by  two  parties  of 
almost  equal  strength,  sought  to  remain  neutral, 
and  wras  tossed  about  according  to  the  caprices  of  the 
fortune  of  arms.  It  is  at  present  in  the  hands  of  the 
Federals.  Missouri  and  Virginia  parcelled  them 
selves  out.  The  Federal  District  of  Columbia  re 
mained  to  the  Government  of  the  Union ;  and  the 
territories  of  the  West,  without  taking  a  determinate 
position,  were  rather  with  the  Union  than  against 
her. 

The  population  of  the  twenty-one  Northern  States 
is  about  twenty-one  millions  of  souls,  of  which  nearly 
a  million  are  slaves,  for  the  most  part  in  Maryland. 
That  of  the  Southern  States  rises  to  ten  millions  of 
souls,  of  which  more  than  three  and  a  half  millions 
are  slaves. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  25 

II. 

CAUSES    OF   THE   WAR. 

It  is  not  easy  to  give  in  a  few  lines,  as  I  must  limit 
myself  to  do  here,  a  just  and  complete  idea  of  the 
causes  of  the  war. 

To  do  this,  it  would  be  necessary  to  go  back  to  the 
very  origin  of  the  nation,  to  the  British  colonies,  and 
to  follow  their  development  down  to  our  days, 
through  the  struggles  for  independence  and  the  era 
of  the  foundation  of  the  republic. 

It  may  be  said,  in  a  general  way,  that  the  antago 
nism  of  the  South  and  the  North,  which  has  produced 
the  present  hostilities,  had  its  first  origin  in  the  grea'tf 
difference  of  climate  of  a  country  extending  over  25° 
of  latitude, — a  difference  developing  in  its  turn, 
according  to  the  principles  already  recognized  by 
Montesquieu,  very  different  manners  and  institutions. 

The  causes  of  the  war  existed  already  in  embryo  in 
the  first  acts  of  the  colonists  who  founded  the  great 
Republic.  The  oppositions  of  climate  caused  them  to 
blossom  and  grow. 

These  first  colonists  introduced,  on  the  one  side, 
slavery  of  the  blacks  as  a  domestic  institution  legally 
guaranteed ;  and,  on  the  other  side,  the  Christian  en 
thusiasm,  the  ardent  faith,  of  the  English  Puritans  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  flying  from  Europe  through 
love  of  their  convictions. 
2 


26  KEPOKT   TO   THE 

At  first,  slavery  prevailed  in  all  the  British  colonies, 
as  well  as  in  the  adjacent  territories  of  the  South.  But 
under  the  influence  of  favorable  geographical  circum 
stances,  it  developed  itself  especially  in  the  South, 
where  the  blacks  are  employed  in  the  culture  of 
products  of  the  torrid  zone,  viz. :  sugar,  cotton,  in. 
digo,  rice,  and  tobacco. 

The  usefulness  of  the  blacks ;  their  material  well- 
being,  sufficiently  general,  in  comparison  with  the 
lot  of  the  low  class  of  European  populations ;  the 
moral  and  intellectual  progress  of  their  situation  over 
that  which  they  would  have  had  in  their  native  coun 
try,  still  devoted  to  idolatry  and  to  barbarism, — in 
cluding  therein  slavery  ;  by  slow  degrees  brought  the 
planters  of  the  South  to  an  accommodation  with  the 
Christian  dogmas  of  human  equality.  "  If  God,"  say 
they,  "  had  wished  that  our  African  laborers  should  be 
our  equals,  He  would  not  have  made  them  black  ; 
they  bear,  in  their  color,  and  ought  to  bear  in  their 
inferior  social  position,  the  weight  of  the  sin  of  their 
first  father,  the  accursed  Ham." 

Under  the  shield  of  this  surrender  of  conscience, 
slavery  prospered  in  the  South  of  the  United  States, 
becoming  there  not  only  a  useful  agricultural  agent, 
but  an  important  branch  of  commerce,  and  of  indus 
try.  The  rearing  of  the  blacks,  the  traffic  in  them, 
and  their  sale  occupied  more  persons  every  year.  This 
entirely  special  article  of  merchandise,  which  could  be 
diminished  or  increased  from  itself,  demanded  special 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  *  27 

protections.  Soon  the  laws  and  the  codes  manifested 
a  preference  for  it,  and  slavery  of  the  blacks,  as  a  fact 
and  as  a  doctrine,  pervaded  every  institution.  It 
came  to  form  the  basis  of  domestic  society,  at  the 
same  time  that  it  became  more  and  more,  by  the  con 
tests  of  parties,  the  motive  and  the  object  of  all  po 
litical  action.  From  the  moment  that  it  appeared 
menaced  by  its  adversaries,  it  was  surrounded  with  pre 
servatives  of  every  kind  ;  and  the  more  it  was  attacked 
from  without,  the  more  dear  it  became  within.  From 
a  simple  agricultural  fact,  more  or  less  injurious, 
which  it  was  at  its  origin,  it  is  to-day  exalted  in  the 
South,  to  the  height  of  a  dogma,  at  the  same  time 
political,  religious,  economical,  which  ought  to  com 
mand  the  respect  of  the  whole  world,  and,  above  all, 
that  of  the  members  of  the  common  republic. 

In  the  North,  on  the  contrary,  the  black  was  not 
found  in  favorable  climatic  conditions. 

Agriculture  did  not  there  require  the  rude  labors, 
and  did  not  yield  the  rich  products  of  that  of  the 
South ;  manufactures,  which  there  supplied  its  place, 
did  not  afford  advantageous  employment  to  African 
laborers.  It  was  found  more  profitable,  and  proba 
bly  also  more  Christian,  to  get  rid  of  them ;  some  were 
emancipated,  others  were  sold  to  the  South. 

Besides,  it  is  at  the  North  that  the  great  flood  of 
European  emigration  discharges  itself.  The  poor 
Irish,  traditionally  devoted  to  domestic  life ;  the 
patient  Germans  ;  all  nations  enterprising  and  robust, 


28  KEPOKT   TO   THE 

came  and  mingled  among  the  blacks,  without  think 
ing  that  they  kept  up  the  current  of  religious  princi 
ples,  opposed  to  the  brutal  servitude  of  one  race  to 
another. 

Under  this  triple  influence,  slavery  gradually  re 
tired  from  the  North ;  then  it  was  banished  from 
points  where  some  accidental  circumstances  might 
have  been  able  to  fasten  it;  then,  at  last,  it  was 
shamed  as  a  detestable  institution. 

The  great  powers  of  Europe,  which  adopted  a  like 
course  of  action  for  their  colonies,  contributed  to  for 
tify  the  sentiments  of  the  Abolitionists  of  America. 
There  were  soon  but  two  slave  States  north  of  the 
Potomac,  and  there  are  but  two  now, — Maryland  and 
Delaware,  and  still  each  year  the  blacks  diminish  there. 

For  a  sufficiently  long  time  the  struggle  between 
these  two  opppsite  tendencies  of  the  North  and  South, 
rested  in  the  domain  of  philosophy  and  religion.  The 
churches  and  the  philanthropic  societies  of  Boston, 
and  of  New  York,  preached  human  equality  to  those 
of  Richmond  and  Charleston,  which  replied  by  ser 
mons  on  the  spirit  of  envy,  jealousy,  and  political 
oppression. 

'  The  States  being  themselves  sovereign  within  the 
limits  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  which  guaranteed 
the  property  of  all,  it  was  necessary  that  some  time 
should  pass  by  before  this  struggle  should  transfer 
itself 'to  the  domain  of  national  politics;  and  the  an 
tagonism  between  the  defenders  and  the  adversaries 


SWISS   MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  29 

of  slavery  appeared  in  the  Federal  elections,  only  as 
a  reserved  plan,  and  subordinate  to  other  divisions  of 
parties. 

But  two  orders  of  facts,  chiefly,  came  by  small  de 
grees,  to  enlarge  the  field  of  this  question. 

There  were,  in  the  first  place,  contests  to  which 
fugitive  slaves  gave  rise,  the  extradition  of  whom  by 
one  State  to  another,  is  imposed  as  a  duty  in  the 
Federal  Constitution  itself.  It  is  a  fact  that  many 
persons  of  the  Xorth  used  their  best  endeavors  to 
thwart  the  reclamations  of  the  proprietors  of  slaves  ; 
and  that,  in  place  of  aiding  in  the  restoration  of  the 
fugitives^  they  have  often  used  all  their  efforts  to  pro 
tect  their  flight.  It  resulted  from  this  state  of  things, 
that  frequent  difficulties  developed  themselves  before 
the  tribunals  of  the  States  or  of  the  Union,  and  the 
judgments  of  these  -converted  the  local  question  of 
slavery  into  one  of  Federal  concern. 

Matters  went  farther.  The  South  made  lively 
complaint  of  the  insufficiency  of  the  constitutional 
provisions  to  prevent  the  escape  of  their  property, 
and,  in  1850,  it  obtained  from  Congress,  by  an  adroit 
manoeuvre  of  a  coalition  of  parties,  a  Draconian  law 
on  the  escape  and  the  recovery  of  slaves.  This  inhu 
man  law  remained,  for  the  most  part,  a  dead  letter  in 
several  States  of  the  North.  They  did  not  deny 
its  authority,  as  South  Carolina  had  before  done 
the  law  of  the  tariff,  but  its  execution  was  paralyzed, 
and  its  provisions  eluded  a  hundred  times.  The  sub- 


30  REPORT   TO   THE 

ject  matter  of  dispute  was  wonderfully  favorable  to 
that  course  of  treatment,  and,  ordinarily,  the  reclaim 
ed  slave  succeeded  in  proving  that  he  was  the  victim 
of  a  bargain,  or  in  escaping  further  off'.  Thus,  with 
the  view  of  strengthening  or  weakening  the  execu 
tion  of  this  law,  the  parties  which  took  their  position 
on  the  question  of  slavery  were  naturally  led  to  take 
a  more  important  part  in  the  different  Federal  and 
State  elections. 

The  other  order  of  facts,  was  the  creation  of  new 
Territories,  and  their  admission  as  States  into  the 
Union. 

Should  slavery  be  protected  there,  or  not  ? 

The  ]N~orth  pretended  generally  that  slavery  ought 
not  to  be  extended,  and  supported  herself  by  the  ex 
ample  of  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  who  had  re 
fused  to  sanction  it  in  the  only  Territory  of  that  time. 
The  South  sustained  the  opposite  proposition,  relying 
also  upon  the  authority  of  the  founders  of  the  Re 
public,  who  had  guaranteed  the  equality  of  rights  and 
of  property  in  the  Constitution  itself,  comprising 
therein  that  of  slaves. 

•j  In  this  respect  a  double  struggle  ordinarily  takes 
place  ;  first,  in  the  Territory  itself, — especially  when 
located  near  the  two  sections,— whether  its  constitu 
tion  shall  or  shall  not  protect  slavery ;  and  then 
in  the  Union,  whether  the  new  State  shall  be  ad 
mitted  or  rejected,  according  as  it  is  with  or  with 
out  slaves. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  31 

The  admission  of  Louisiana  in  1812,  previously 
purchased  of  France,  was  the  occasion  of  lively  com 
plaints  on  the  part  of  the  North.  This  State  was 
nevertheless  admitted  with  its  slave  constitution. 

The  same  dispute  recurred  eight  years  later,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  admission  of  Missouri.  The  North 
still  yielded  to  a  compromise,  called  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  which  forever  excluded  slavery  from  the 
Territories  situated  north  of  a  line  passing  by  the 
northern  frontier  of  Missouri — that  is  to  say,  by 
36°  and  30'  of  latitude.  This  decision  was  equiva 
lent,  for  the  South,  to  a  guarantee  of  slavery  in  all  the 
Territories  of  its  own  neighborhood,  which  it  hoped 
to  colonize,  or  one  day  to  acquire,  and  was  consid 
ered  by  it  a  great  triumph. 

The  admission  of  Arkansas  as  a  slave  State  in 
1836  ;  that  of  Florida  in  1815,  which  had  also  been 
purchased  by  the  Union  in  1819  ;  then  that  of  Texas, 
detached  from  Mexico  ;  then,  finally,  the  prospective 
riches  which  were  opened  up  by  the  victorious  war 
against  Mexico,  and  the  peace  which  was  imposed  on 
it  in  1847 — were  new  successes  for  the  South,  which 
saw  approaching  the  moment  when  it  should  rule  in 
Congress. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  movements  for  colonization 
on  the  part  of  the  North  were  accelerated  by  the  con 
struction  of  railways,  and  by  the  discovery  of  the 
auriferous  treasures  of  California.  This  Territory, 
detached  from  Mexico,  entered  the  Union  in  1850  as 


02  REPORT   TO   THE 

a  State,  without  slaves.  Some  years  before,  the 
States  of  Michigan,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota 
had  been  admitted  by  the  same  title,  without  reckon 
ing  other  territories  in  these  countries  offering  to  the 
North  an  easy  colonization. 

Two  other  Territories,  situated  on  the  limits  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  were  likely  to  render  the  situa 
tion  more  difficult.  These  were  Kansas  and  Ne 
braska,  colonized  at  first  by  the  Missourians,  who 
peopled  Kansas  with  sufficient  rapidity,  and  who 
reckoned  on  easily  making  the  neighboring  States 
slave  States. 

But  in  order  to  do  that,  it  was  necessary  first  to 
overcome  the  Missouri  Compromise,  and  the  barrier 
of  36°  30'  of  latitude. 

After  very  active  controversies,  and  parliamentary 
struggles,  the  South  obtained  this  concession  also  from 
Congress,  by  a  coalition  of  sordid  interests.  The 
Union  in  1850  abandoned  its  power  over  the  question 
of  slavery,  in  favor  of  the  Territories  themselves. 
These  were  declared  open  to  colonization  by  both 
sections,  and  free  to  adapt  the  question  of  slavery  to 
their  own  circumstances  and  convenience.  The  peo 
ple  of  the  North  did  not  admit  themselves  beaten. 
They  organized  and  excited  the  emigration  of  their 
people  to  Kansas ;  struggled  with  persistence  against 
the  invasion  of  the  Missourians ;  opposed,  on  the 
occasion,  force  to  force,  and,  after  a  period  of  agita 
tion  and  of  violence,  they  succeeded  at  last  in  obtain- 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  33 

ing  the  majority.  Kansas  prepared  a  Constitution 
proscribing  slavery,  under  which  she  demanded  her 
admission  into  the  Union. 

Great  was  the  rage  of  the  South,  whicli  then 
already  threatened  a  resort  to  arms,  and  which  suc 
ceeded  by  magnifying  the  incidents  in  connection 
with  Kansas  in  causing  the  postponement  of  the  ad 
mission  of  the  new  State.  It  was  admitted  only  in 
January,  1861— that  is  to  say,  after  the  secession 
had  taken  place. 

Nebraska  remained  still,  as  a  Territory,  an  open 
arena  ;  but  the  South  has  succeeded  in  transporting 
thither  only  thirty  slaves,  at  most. 

At  the  same  time,  in  1859,  Oregon  was  a  new 
recruit  for  the  North. 

Another  cause  of  the  war,  having  relation  to  the 
same  geographical  circumstances  which  have  pro 
duced  that  of  slavery,  is  the  difference  of  social 
activity;  of  the  means  of  acquiring  riches;  and,  by 
consequence,  of  the  material  interests  actually  exist 
ing  between  the  North  and  the  South. 

The  first  is  principally  manufacturing  and  com 
mercial;  the  second  is  chiefly  agricultural.  The 
latter  grows  rich  while  furnishing  its  products, — its 
cotton  among  others, — to  Europe,  which  has  need  of 
them  ;  the  former  takes  charge  of  the  exportation  of 
those  products. 

The  States  of  the  South  are,  besides,  a  market  for 
the  manufacturers  of  the  North,  and  the  latter  is  very 

9* 


34  REPORT   TO   THE 

glad  to  exclude  from  it  foreign  competition.  Hence 
her  predilection  for  a  system  of  tariffs,  which  aid  her 
in  struggling  against  English  industry,  but  of  which 
the  South,  as  consumer,  pretends  herself  the  principal 
victim. 

The  theories  and  their  definitions  thus  clashing,  the 
North  and  the  South  are  seen  to  divide,  in  respect  to 
commerce,  into  "protectionists"  and  "free  traders." 
By  a  strange  and  ridiculous  mode  of  expression,  the 
South,  all  whose  institutions  look  towards  the  protec 
tion  of  its  special  and  only  object  of  industry,  slavery, 
and  all  whose  efforts  have  reference  to  obtaining  for 
it  the  protection  of  the  Union,  calls  itself  free  trade  ! 
But  the  partisans  of  tariffs  have  a  long  time  had  the 
majority  in  Congress,  not  only  on  account  of  the  prin 
ciple  itself,  but  also  because  the  customs  have  the  ad 
vantage  of  returning  large  revenues  to  the  state,  which, 
without  them,  it  would  be  necessary  to  supply  other 
wise.  It  is  the  South,  besides,  which  was  one  of  the 
introducers  of  tariffs  in  1816,  after  the  war  against 
the  English  ;  and  she  has  discovered  that,  in  so  doing, 
she  has  served  the  North  more  than  herself.  An  at 
tempt  made  in  1840  to  reduce  the  tariff  led  to  an  in 
dustrial  crisis,  which  ceased  only  by  a  return  to  pro 
tection  in  1842.  Since  then  it  has  been  increased 
Btill  more. 

In  this  same  order  of  ideas,  the  marine  and  the 
tonnage  of  the  United  States  have  been  protected 
against  foreign  competition  by  a  law  styled  a  naviga 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  35 

tion  law,  or  rather  a  tonnage  law,  which  has  the 
appearance  of  increasing  the  cost  of  transportation, 
and  of  raising  the  price  of  commodities  for  exportation. 
The  South,  careful,  above  all,  in  regard  to  its  cotton, 
— King  Cotton,  as  they  call  it, — complains  bitterly  of 
this  law,  although  it  may  be  proven  that  spite  of  this 
pretended  restraint,  the  South  cannot  even  furnish 
cotton  enough  to  satisfy  the  demand. 

Under  these  three  aspects :  danger  to  its  slave 
property,  which  cannot  prosper  to  a  degree  wrhich 
would  satisfy  her  ambition ;  protective  tariffs  ;  en 
couragement  to  the  coastwise  trade, — the  South  pre 
tends  herself  duped  and  practised  upon  by  the  North. 
The  familiar  mode  of  expressing  her  complaints  is  to 
style  herself,  the  milch  cow  of  the  North. 

As  a  compensation,  and  as  a  guarantee,  the  Soutli 
wishes  at  least  to  have  the  possession  of  the  principal 
positions  in  the  Federal  government.  If  she  did  not 
succeed  in  obtaining  the  complete  triumph  of  her 
views  and  her  interests,  she  permitted  herself  to  reckon 
on  some  moderation  in  the  execution  of  measures  to 
her  disadvantage ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  obtaining 
for  herself  certain  lucrative  employments  and  positions. 
It  seems,  indeed,  that  the  North,  tired  of  the  strife, 
had  for  a  long  time  acquiesced  in  these  pretensions,  by 
a  kind  of  tacit  agreement,  and  that  it  had  not  at 
tached  great  importance  to  having  the  Federal  gov 
ernment  in  its  hands. 

It  was  during  these  transactions,  and  under  other 


36  REPORT   TO    THE 

influences  besides,  that  the  providential  election  of 
1860  took  place. 

The  various  political  fractions  of  the  North,  which 
hitherto  had  almost  always  allowed  themselves  to 
separate,  came,  by  reaction  against  the  audacity  of 
the  slave  pretensions  of  the  South,  to  unite  in  a 
great  Republican  party,  which  formed  itself  definitely 
at  Chicago,  and  which  decided  to  carry  into  the 
Presidency  Mr.  Abraham  Lincoln,  of  Illinois. 

The  South  divided  itself  on  Mr.  Breckinridere,  of 

O     " 

Kentucky,  and  Mr.  Douglas,  a  citizen  of  Illinois,  but 
a  slave  proprietor  in  Virginia,  and  belonging  to  the 
Southern  or  Democratic  party.  A  fourth  candidate, 
a  moderate  Unionist,  Mr.  Bell,  was  put  forward  to 
counteract  the  candidacy  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

An  election  of  unaccustomed  excitement  followed 
amongst  the  people  of  the  States,  and  in  which  the 
South  seemed  rather  to  have  for  her  object,  to  embit 
ter  the  passions,  than  to  secure  the  triumph  of  her 
candidate.  Her  part  was  already  taken,  to  make  a 
rupture,  and  she  persisted  in  dividing  her  votes, 
wrhile  at  the  North  the  current  set  in  quite  an  opposite 
direction. 

The  sixth  of  November  1861,  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  by  1,857,610  votes  against  1,365,976  cast  for 
Mr.  Douglas,  847,953  for  Mr.  Breckinridge,  and  590,- 
631  for  Mr.  Bell, — a  majority  which  was  also  con 
firmed  by  the  electoral  vote  of  the  States. 

This  defeat  of  the  South,  which,  however,  in  unit- 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  87 

ing  the  votes  of  the  two  democratic  candidates,  found 
itself  in  a  majority  over  Mr.  Lincoln,  was  the  signal 
for  the  tempest. 

For  a  long  time  already,  at  each  crisis,  the  orators 
of  the  Southern  States  had  threatened  a  separation,  if 
their  wishes  should  not  be  complied  with.  South 
Carolina,  in  regard  to  the  tariff  law,  had  even  made 
an  attempt  in  that  direction  in  1832,  but  was  vigor 
ously  repressed  by  the  President,  General  Jackson. 
Then,  already,  the  State  pretended  to  the  right  of 
nullifying  Federal  decisions  contrary  to  its  interests  ; 
and  this  doctrine,  which  was  anarchic,  but  skilfully 
sustained  by  a  man  of  great  talent^Ir.  Calhoun, 
had  made  sufficiently  numerous  partisans  in  the  slave 
States. 

Then  after  the  last  electoral  crisis,  many  journals 
and  popular  orators  of  the  Carolinas,  of  Virginia,  of 
Georgia,  of  Lousiana,  and  of  other  States  besides,  had 
formally  declared,  that  if  they  might  consent  to  sub 
mit  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Douglas,  or  of  Mr.  Bell, 
they  certainly  never  could  recognize  that  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln  as  the  act  of  the  nation. 

It  is  in  fact  the  very  thing,  which,  contrary  to  all 
the  principles  of  law  hitherto  practically  recognized, 
has  actually  occurred. 

South  Carolina,  the  furnace  of  the  slave  party,  first 
put  herself  forward. 

Hardly  had  the  triumph  of  Mr.  Lincoln  been  an 
nounced  by  the  telegraph,  before  the  legislature  of 


REPORT    TO    THE 

that  State,  sitting  at  Charleston,  decided  upon  the 
calling  of  a  national  convention*  for  the  17th  of  De 
cember,  which  should  have  to  pronounce  upon  the 
question  of  the  separation  of  South  Carolina  from  the 
Union  ;  or,  in  other  words,  on  a  secession.  At  the 
same  time  the  greater  part  of  the  Federal  functionaries 
of  the  State  or  in  the  State, — at  the  customs,  in  the 
post-offices  and  at  the  arsenals,  &c., — resigned  their 
functions,  or  declared  themselves  independent.  The 
Virginia  senators  at  Washington  quitted  their  seats. 

Georgia,  Louisiana,  Florida,  followed  the  example 
of  Charleston ;  and  the  question  of  secession,  its  right, 
its  advantages,  its  inconveniences  became  the  subject 
of  every  discussion.  A  strong  emotion  prevailed 
throughout  the  South,  while  the  North,  confident  in 
her  victory,  awaited  calmly  the  return  of  those  van 
quished  by  the  ballot,  to  more  reasonable  sentiments, 
and  the  entry  of  the  new  President  on  his  duties. 

But  it  was  necessary  that  four  months  should  yet 
pass  by,  under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Buchanan. 
Of  this  administration,  some  of  the  members  by  open 
complicity,  others  by  their  weakness  alone,  allowed, 
during  all  this  time,  the  efforts  of  secession  to  grow  at 
their  pleasure,  and  assume  an  organized  form. 

Treason  took  part  in  passing  events,  and  the  Minis 
ter  of  War,  General  Floyd,  a  proprietor  of  slaves  in 
Virginia,  hastened  amongst  others,  to  use  the  remain- 

*  The  author  means  a  convention  of  the  people  of  South  Carolina. 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  39 

der  of  his  power  to  take  adroitly  a  multitude  of  mili 
tary  measures,  favorable  to  the  cause  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  ardent  champions.*  By  his  cares,  the 
arsenals  of  the  North  were  stripped  of  their  arms  for 
the  benefit  of  those  of  the  South  ;  the  little  army  of 
regulars  was  almost  all  sent  to  Texas  ;  the  navy  was 
scattered  in  every  corner  of  the  seas.  When  the  new 
power  entered  upon  its  functions,  it  found  neither 
soldiers,  nor  marines,  nor  materiel  at  hand.  In  a 
word,  the  first  steps  of  the  rebellion  were  assured  by 
the  protection  of  the  government  itself,  which  had 
sworn  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution.  The 
populations  of  the  North,  whose  attention  this  cul 
pable  game  did  not  escape,  gave  a  fine  example  of 
their  habitual  regard  for  law,  in  respecting,  under 
such  circumstances,  a  government  already  smitten 
by  the  ballot,  and  so  perfidiously  betraying  its  man 
date. 

In  the  month  of  December,  Congress  met  and  heard 
a   very   carefully    studied    message    from   President 
Buchanan,  but  which  was  without  conclusions  rising 
to  the  exigency  of  the  circumstances.     Congress  did 
not  accomplish  the  preservation  of  the  reign   of  the 
.Constitution;  and  the  efforts  towards  a  compromise, 
'  made  by  some  moderate  a-nd  conciliatory  men,  com 
pletely  failed. 

The  20th  of  December  the  Convention  of  South 


*  General  Floyd  commands  at  this  time  a  division  in  the  army  at  the 
South. 


4:0  KEPOKT   TO    THE 

Carolina  passed,  by  unanimous  vote,  its  ordinance  of 
secession  ;  and  in  all  the  States  of  the  South  warlike 
preparations  were  pushed  with  studied  vigor. 

At  the  close  of  December  the  war  appeared  almost 
inevitable  ;  although  it  seemed,  011  both  sides,  that  in 
timidation  was  sought  to  be  produced  by  blustering 
threats,  rather  than  a  precipitation  of  actual  hostili 
ties.  Innumerable  meetings  were  held  all  over  the 
country,  at  which  the  effort  was  made  to  prove,  in 
the  South,  the  full  right  of  secession,  and,  in  the 
North,  its  monstrous  breach  of  law. 

The  intermediate  or  border  States,  Maryland,  Vir 
ginia,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  sufficiently  agreed  in 
the  opinion  that  South  Carolina  was  going  to  work 
a  little  too  quickly ;  and  while  declaring  their  sym 
pathies  for  her  cause,  they  thought  that  the  time  had 
not  yet  arrived  for  rending  the  Federal  Constitution. 
It  was  necessary,  they  said,  to  see  the  new  govern 
ment  at  work,  and  to  see  it  make  the  first  attempt 
upon  the  Constitution,  by  carrying  into  act  its  famous 
Chicago  platform  on  the  question  of  slavery,  before 
departing  from  the  paths  of  strict  right. 

But,  as  it  ordinarily  happens  when  the  passions  are 
unchained,  these  words  of  eound  reason,  which  were 
at  the  same  time  the  notions  of  the  better  policy, 
were  not  heard ;  and  certain  incidents  sufficed  to  set 
lire  to  the  powder. 

The  port  of  Charleston  is  defended,  amongst  others, 
by  two  Federal  forts — Fort  Moultrie,  on  a  peninsula 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  41 

of  the  coast  north  of  the  city,  and  Fort  Sumter,  on 
an  isle  in  the  middle  of  the  pass.  A  small  Federal 
garrison  under  Major  Anderson  held  Fort  Moultrie ; 
and,  while  the  secessionists  of  South  Carolina  were 
raising  the  pretension  that  this  garrison  should  not  be 
reinforced  in  any  manner,  Major  Anderson,  deriving 
inspiration  only  from  his  military  duties,  abandoned 
Fort  Moultrie,  and  transferred  himself  with  all  his 
command  to  Fort  Sumter,  which,  furnished  him  a 
less  threatened  position. 

There  was  a  great  burst  of  rage  in  the  South  against 
this  act  of  provocation,  so  called ;  the  North,  on  the 
other  hand,  resounded  with  applause  for  the  "brave 
and  loyal"  Anderson. 

By  way  of  reprisal,  the  government  of  North  Caro 
lina  took  possession  of  Fort  Macon,  of  Wilmington, 
and  of  the  Arsenal  of  Fayetteville,  which  were  with 
out  Unionist  defenders.  At  this  juncture  it  was 
necessary  that  General  Floyd  should  retire  from 
power ;  and  he  did  so  only  after  having  pushed  his 
boldness  so  far  as  to  hold  the  weak  President,  Bu 
chanan,  responsible  for  the  civil  war  which  was  about 
to  break  out,  if  he  should  not  immediately  recall  the 
garrison  from  Fort  Sumter. 

In  January,  Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  and 
Louisiana  also  voted  to  secede.  Virginia  prudently 
stopped  at  the  second  step,  and  convoked,  in  her 
turn,  a  Convention  to  consider  the  same  object. 
Missouri,  Arkansas,  Tennessee,  followed  the  example 


42  REPORT   TO    THE 

of  Virginia,  and  prepared  to  pronounce  their  vote  on 
the  first  favorable  occasion. 

On  the  14th  of  January,  the  Convention  of  South 
Carolina  decreed  that  every  attempt  to  reinforce  the 
garrison  at  Fort  Sumter,  should  be  considered  an 
act  of  war ;  and  they  pushed  the  construction  of 
batteries  designed  to  breach  the  Federal  fortifica 
tions.  The  government  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  which, 
besides,  had  only  a  few  weeks  to  live,  recoiled  before 
this  menace. 

On  the  14th  of  February,  1862,  the  States  which 
had  already  declared  their  secession,  opened  a  Con 
gress  of  delegates  at  Montgomery,  in  Alabama, 
which  voted,  four  days  after,  a  provisional  Federal 
Constitution  for  the  seceded  States.  They  were  then 
seven  in  number,  to  wit:  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Florida,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  Mississippi. 
They  were  certain  of  soon  seeing  their  number 
increased  by  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  by  Arkan 
sas,  by  Tennessee,  and  by  Missouri ;  and,  according 
to  the  energy  with  which  they  should  proceed,  they 
reckoned  still  on  the  adhesion  of  the  other  slave 
States — Kentucky,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  the  Dis 
trict  of  Columbia,  where  the  Democratic  party  had 
numerous  members. 

The  Constitution  of  the  Confederates  is  very  similar 
to  that  of  the  Union.  Slavery  is  better  protected  in 
it ;  the  separation  of  the  powers  is  a  little  less  plain ; 
the  duration  of  the  Presidential  functions  longer — six 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  43 

years  instead  of  four.     The  right  of  secession  is  also 
reserved. 

The  18th  of  February,  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  Fed 
eral  Minister  of  War  before  Floyd,  and  Mr.  Stephens, 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  orators  of  America, 
were  inaugurated  as  President  and  Vice-President 

o 

of  the  new  Confederacy. 

During  this  time  Mr.  Lincoln  quitted  his  modest 
abode  in  Illinois ;  received  numerous  ovations  through 
out  his  whole  route  in  the  North ;  adroitly  baffled  a 
conspiracy  against  his  person  at  Baltimore ;  and 
arrived  at  Washington,  where  his  administration  was 
inaugurated  the  4th  of  March. 

One  of  his  first  cares  was  to  take  military  meas 
ures,  to  guard  against  the  effects  of  the  weakness  or  the 
treason  of  the  preceding  administration.  He  caused 
several  forts  to  be  occupied ;  the  arsenals  to  be  refur 
nished  with  munitions ;  troops  and  vessels  to  be  assem 
bled  ;  and,  on  the  8th  of  April,  he  notified  South  Car 
olina  that  supplies  would  be  sent  to  Fort  Sumter,  by 
force,  if  necessary.  Two  vessels,  in  fact,  left  New 
York  for  that  purpose. 

It  was  still  generally  thought  in  the  North  that 
before  this  act  of  firmness  the  South  would  yield. 
They  were  deceived. 


EEPOET   TO   THE 


III. 


FIRST   HOSTILITIES. 

After  long  conferences,  it  is  true,  hostilities  broke 
out  at  Charleston.  The  secession  troops,  taking  meas 
ures  in  advance  of  those  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  opened  the 
fire  of  their  batteries  against  Fort  Sumter  on  the 
12th  of  April,  and,  two  days  after,  Major  Anderson 
obtained  an  honorable  capitulation. 

A  cry  of  joy  seemed,  at  the  news  of  this  first  deed 
of  arms,  to  escape  simultaneously  from  every  South 
ern  heart,  to  which  responded  a  terrible  burst  of  rage 
in  the  North.  The  struggle  was  decidedly  inevitable. 
The  cannon  was  about  to  speak,  and  to  restrain  for 
some  time  the  object  of  public  discussions  to  the 
single  question,  of  knowing  to  what  side  should  fall 
the  intermediate  States,  which  had  not  yet  categori 
cally  declared  themselves. 

The  15th  of  April,  President  Lincoln  issued  a  pro 
clamation,  calling  to  arms  seventy-five  thousand 
men,*  and  summoning  the  rebel  States  to  return 

*  These  seventy-five  thousand  men  were  distributed  among  the 
States  according  to  the  following  scale  : 

Maine,  1  regiment,  of  780  men. 

1 


New  Hampshire, 
Vermont, 
Massachusetts, 
Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut, 
New  York, 


SWISS   MILITAEY   DEPARTMENT. 


45 


within  twenty  days  under  the  flag  of  the  Union. 
Congress  was  convoked  in  special  session,  as  well  as 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States,  and,  for  some  days,  the 
journals  were  filled  with  proclamations,  with  orders 
of  the  day,  and  appeals  for  men  and  money. 

At  the  South,  response  was  made  to  these  measures 
with  not  less  ardor.  Virginia  proclaimed  her  seces 
sion  the  17th  of  April,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis  an 
nounced  the  issue  of  letters  of  marque  to  privateers. 

The  19th  of  April  the  Government  replied  with 
declaring  the  blockade  of  the  coasts  of  the  seceded 
States,  and  the  1st  day  of  May,  President  Lincoln 
called  to  arms  forty-two  thousand  volunteers  for  three 
years,  and  eighteen  thousand  marines.*  Troops  were 


New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania, 

Delaware, 

Maryland, 

Virginia, 

North  Carolina, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 

Arkansas, 

Missouri, 

Illinois, 

Indiana, 

Ohio, 

Michigan, 

"Wisconsin, 

Iowa, 

Minnesota, 

*  The  first  appeal  had  been  addressed  to  the  militia,  raised  for  three 
months  only ;  besides,  several  States  refused  their  contingent.  This 
second  levy  was  distributed  as  follows : 


4  regiments  of  780  men. 
16 

1 

4 

3 

2 

2 

4 

1 

4 

6 

6 
13 

1 

1 

1 

1 


46  REPORT   TO   THE 

concentrated  at  "Washington  on  the  one  part,  and  at 
Richmond  on  the  other  ;  and  the  Potomac  was  thence, 
on  this  zone,*  the  limit  between  the  belligerent  parties. 

The  20th  of  April,  the  Federals,  not  being  able  to 
extricate  their  vessels  from  the  maritime  arsenal  at 
Norfolk,  in  Yirginia,  endeavored  at  least  to  destroy 
them  ;  and  sank,  or  set  fire  to  the  eleven  vessels, 
among  which  were  several  frigates  of  great  value. 
The  secessionists  succeeded  in  saving  some  of  them. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  the  end  of  May  that  the 
campaign  was  really  opened.  The  Federals  crossed 
the  Potomac  and  proceeded  to  take  possession,  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  river,  of  the  city  of  Alexandria, 
and  the  neighboring  heights  of  Arlington. 

The  troops  of  the  North,  under  the  general  com 
mand  of  the  venerable  General  Scott,  were  distrib 
uted  at  first  into  six  corps  :  one  at  Fortress  Monroe, 


New  York, 

11  regiments. 

Yirginia,                2  regiments. 

Pennsylvania, 

10 

Maine,                    1 

Ohio, 

9 

Maryland,              1 

Illinois, 

6 

Connecticut,           1 

Massachusetts, 

5             " 

New  Hampshire,  1 

Indiana, 

4             " 

Vermont,                1 

Missouri, 

4              " 

Rhode  Island,        1 

Michigan, 

3 

Minnesota,             1 

New  Jersey, 

3 

Delaware,              1 

Kentucky, 

2               ' 

Kansas,                  1 

Wisconsin, 

2 

Nebraska,              1 

Iowa, 

2               ' 

In  all,  seventy-five  regimen 

N.  B. — The  regiments  are  numbered  by  States.     They  say  the  4th 
Ohio,  the  8th  New  York,  &c. 

*  The  author  divides  the  country  into  five   zones,  running  North 
and  South. 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  47 

in  Virginia  ;  one  opposite  Washington,  on  the  Poto 
mac  ;  one  in  Western  Virginia;  one  in  Kentucky; 
one  in  Missouri ;  and  one  in  Maryland. 


IV. 

SUMMARY    OF    THE   PRINCIPAL    MILITARY   ACTS. 

Not  being  able  to  give  here  a  history  of  the  mili 
tary  transactions,  I  shall  limit  myself  to  a  brief  indi 
cation  of  the  principal  ones. 

The  first  affair  of  some  importance  took  place  the 
10th  of  June,  at  Big  Bethel,  in  Virginia,  on  the  route 
from  Fortress  Monroe  to  Yorktown.  About  three 
thousand  Federals,  proceeding  from  Fortress  Monroe 
and  from  Newport,  attempted  to  carry  the  intrench- 
ments  before  Big  Bethel,  and  were  repulsed  after  a 
sharp  engagement,  and  with  a  loss  of  sixty  men  in 
killed  and  wounded. 

Other  actions  also  took  place  in  Western  Virginia 
during  the  months  of  June  and  July.  One  Federal 
division,  among  others,  commanded  by  General  Mc- 
Clellan,  had  notable  successes  in  that  quarter. 

A  more  serious  affair  was  the  battle  of  Bull  Bun, 
or  Manassas  Junction,  fought  the  21st  day  of  July. 
About  twenty  thousand  Federals,  under  General  Me- 


4:8  REPORT   TO   THE 

Dowell,  advanced  against  Richmond  by  the  route 
direct  from  Washington,  by  Fairfax  Court  House, 
Centreville,  and  Manassas,  Between  the  last  two  lo 
calities,  on  the  borders  of  the  stream  Bull  Run,  they 
engaged  with  the  enemy,  about  twenty  thousand 
strong.  A  combat,  at  first  sufficiently  sharp,  turned 
subsequently  into  a  panic  on  both  sides,  as  often  hap 
pens  with  troops  for  the  first  time  under  fire.  But 
the  panic  was  stronger  on  the  side  of  the  Federals, 
who  ended  by  flying  in  great  disorder  as  far  as  Fair 
fax,  and  even  to  Washington.  They  were  not,  how 
ever,  long  pursued ;  and  they  had,  in  all,  four  hun 
dred  and  seventy-nine  killed,  one  thousand  and  eleven 
wounded,  and  lost  more  than  fifteen  hundred  prison 
ers.  The  secessionists  had  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
three  killed,  and  twelve  hundred  wounded. 

The  troops  of  the  North,  composed  in  good  part  of 
corps  levied  for  three  months,  and  the  end  of  whose 
term  of  service  had  now  arrived,  could  with  diffi 
culty  be  collected,  and  a  considerable  number  of  the 
militia  returned  to  their  homes.  The  Secessionists 
advanced  anew  to  the  border  of  the  Potomac,  but 
did  not,  whether  from  military  prudence,  or  a  system 
of  policy,  attempt  to  cross  it.  They  believed  their 
cause  already  gained. 

The  emotion  which  was  excited  in  the  North  on 
this  news,  was,  on  the  other  hand,  any  thing  but 
an  indication  of  peace.  Congress,  called  to  take 
measures,  decided  upon  a  new  levy,  and  this  time  up- 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  4:9 

on  five  hundred  thousand  men  engaged  for  three 
years.* 

General  Scott,  who  had,  contrary  to  his  inclination, 
and  under  the  pressure  of  Congress,  given  the  order  for 
the  march  upon  Richmond,  chose  to  resign  his  com- 
.mand,  and  was  replaced  by  one  of  the  youngest  gene 
rals  of  the  army,  General  McClellan,  who,  while  his 
colleagues  were  beaten  at  Manassas,  was  running  to 
their  aid  across  Western  Virginia,  and  had  made  a 
brilliant  and  rapid  march,  with  several  successful  en 
gagements. 

The  victory  of  Manassas  gave  to  the  South  its 
apogee  of  strength.  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  passed 
in  majority  to  it.  On  the  other  hand,  "Western  Vir 
ginia  made  a  secession  within  the  seceded  territory, 
in  order  to  remain  faithful  to  the  Union. 

The  campaign  dragged  along  through  the  whole  of 
the  rest  of  the  year  1861. 

We  may  mention,  however,  as  a  remarkable  occur 
rence,  the  battle  of  Wilsorfs  Creek,  in  Missouri,  the 
10th  of  August,  where  the  Federals  had  a  thousand 
men  hors  de  combat,  of  whom  their  chief,  General 
Lyon,  was  killed,  while  the  Secessionists  had  twelve 
hundred  in  the  same  condition.  The  result  was  un 
decided. 

Another  striking  affair  was  that  called  the  mas 
sacre  of  BaWs  Bluff,  the  21st  of  October,  which  pro- 

*  Distributed  on  a  scale  similar  to  that  of  the  preceding  levy,  with 
the  addition  of  the  States  of  California  and  Oregon. 

3 


50  REPORT    TO    THE 

voked,  with  reason,  an  investigation,  and  was  the  sub 
ject  of  long  controversy.  About  eighteen  hundred 
Federals,  under  General  Stone,  crossed  the  Potomac 
at  Edwards'  Ferry,  above  Washington,  on  boats. 
Attacked  on  the  other  bank  by  superior  forces,  they 
were  driven  towards  the  river,  w^ere  not  able  to  re-em 
bark,  and  were  in  great  part  killed  or  drowned.  This 
design  was  so  unskilfully  conducted  on  the  part  of 
the  Federals,  that  treason  was  charged  to  have  had  a 
part  in  the  affair,  and  General  Stone  is  still  at  this 
hour  in  prison.* 

"With  the  first  days  of  18G2,  the  campaign  reopened 
with  new  vigor,  and  everywhere  simultaneously. 
The  Federal  army,  about  600,000  strong,  was,  besides, 
seconded  by  a  powerful  marine,  and  the  combined 
action  of  land  and  naval  forces  was  seen  to  present 
itself  at  almost  every  point. 

General  Halleck,  successor,  in  the  West,  of  General 
Fremont,  received  the  command  of  a  large  army, 
which  was  broken  into  six  corps,  and  with  which, 
seconded  by  a  fleet  of  gunboats,  he  reconquered  to 
the  Union  Kentucky,  the  greater  part  of  Tennessee, 
a  portion  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  almost  the  whole 
course  of  the  Mississippi,  and  penetrated  even  into 
Alabama. 

Sharp  actions  took  place,  amongst  others,  at  the 
capture  of  Forts  Donelson  and  Henry,  in  Tennessee ; 

*  No  charges  were  ever  preferred  against  General  Stone,  and  he  has 
been  liberated  and  assigned  to  duty. 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  51 

at  Mill  Spring,  in  Kentucky,  and  finally,  at  Pittsburg 
Landing,  near  Corinth.  At  the  last  affair,  the  6th  or 
7th  of  April,  against  the  Confederate  General  Beau- 
regard,  there  were  about  ten  thousand  men  hors  de 
combat  on  each  side.  The  result  was  indecisive. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  theatre  of  war,  four  mari 
time  expeditions,  besides  the  blockade,  were  directed 
against  different  points  of  the  Southern  coast,  and 
afforded  as  results,  the  capture,  amongst  other  places, 
of  Roanoke  Island  and  Newbern,  in  North  Carolina ; 
of  Port  Royal,  in  South  Carolina ;  of  some  points  in 
Florida,  and  of  New  Orleans. 

The  army  called  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under 
the  special  command  of  General  McClellan,  advanced 
in  its  turn,  at  the  commencement  of  March,  from 
Washington  on  Richmond,  as  far  as  Bull  Run.  Then 
a  curtain  was  let  fall  upon  this  front,  while  the  mass 
of  the  army,  passing  by  the  left,  embarked  on  the 
Potomac  at  Alexandria,  for  the  purpose  of  landing  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  proceeding  against  Richmond 
by  the  peninsula  of  Yorktown. 

On  this  new  line  of  operations  the  Federals  had 
advanced,  after  several  successes,  but  with  some  degree 
of  slowness,  as  far  as  within  three  or  four  leagues  from 
Richmond.  By  the  middle  of  June  they  might  have 
been  believed  near  capturing  the  secession  capital,  and 
there  terminating  the  great  war  at  a  stroke,  when  the 
skilful  movements  of  the  Confederate  generals,  Jack 
son  and  Lee — who  knew  how  to  profit  by  their  cen- 


52  REPORT   TO   THE 

tral  position,  and  who  had  been  crowned  with  success 
on  the  Shenandoah  and  the  Chickahominy — succeeded 
in  forcing  the  Federals  to  replace  themselves  on  the  de- 
jfensive,  and  in  wholly  changing  the  situation. 

While  the  Unionists  had  advanced  in  triumph 
everywhere  simultaneously,  keeping  their  corps  hun 
dreds  of  leagues  apart,  and  getting  in  raptures  over 
the  conquest  of  certain  points  of  very  secondary  im 
portance,  the  Secessionists,  whether  by  the  force  of 
circumstances,  or  by  a  good  understanding  of  the 
principles  of  war,  had  concentrated  themselves  at 
Richmond. 

They  had  thus  been  able  to  attack,  in  superior 
force,  the  army  of  McClellan,  and  to  repulse  it  with 
great  loss  in  different  parts,  during  the  Seven  Days' 
fight.  A  furious  action  took  place,  from  the  25th  of 
June  to  the  1st  of  July,  on  the  borders  of  the  Chicka 
hominy  and  of  the  James  River,  and  did  not  termi 
nate  until  the  army  of  McClellan  had  been  able  to 
take  a  new  base,  and  a  strong  defensive  position  on 
the  James  River,  under  the  cannon  of  the  Federal 
flotilla. 

These  events  forced  the  North,  still  more  persistent 
than  ever  in  its  determination  to  re-establish  the  reign 
of  the  Constitution,  to  a  new  levy,  the  fourth,  and 
300,000  men  are  in  course  of  being  recruited  at  this 
time. 

From  this  brief  chronicle  of  the  principal  military 
acts,  one  may  already  draw  instruction  perfectly  in 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  53 

accordance  with  theoretic  principles.  It  is,  that  if  it 
is  doubtless  good  for  a  country  to  defend  with  courage 
its  very  frontier,  this  country  is  still  not  lost  for 
having  allowed  some  points  of  that  frontier  to  escape. 
That  if,  in  a  defence  of  Switzerland,  for  example,  it 
should  happen  to  us  to  have  to  evacuate,  before  su 
perior  forces,  or  menacing  marches,  cities  as  important 
for  us  as  are  to  American  Secessionists,  Alexandria, 
Yorktown,  Norfolk,  Newbern,  Port  Royal,  New  Or 
leans,  Yicksburg,  Memphis,  Nashville,  Springfield,  &c., 
this  would  not  be  a  reason  for  our  despairing,  more 
than  they,  of  being  able  to  re-establish  our  power  be 
fore  our  Richmond,  which  might  be  Berne,  or  some 
other  of  our  central  capitals. 


Y. 


CONCERNING   THE    ARMY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES    OF    THE 

NORTH. — STATISTICAL     NOTIONS. — RECRUITING. PAY. 

ALLOWANCES. 

I  shall  pass  now  to  some  indications  more  particularly 
statistical,  on  the  subject  of  the  military  system  of  the 
United  States  of  the  North. 

One  of  the  finest  operations  which  the  Americans 
have  effected,  is,  without  contradiction,  the  creation, 
in  so  short  a  time,  of  their  immense  armies,  which,  in 
the  last  actions,  have  shown  military  capacities  equal 


54  REPORT    TO    THE 

to  those  of  the  best  troops  in  the  world.  The  North, 
after  the  defeat  of  Bull  Rim,  created  an  army  of  six 
hundred  thousand  men  in  from  three  to  four  months. 

The  United  States  had,  before,  only  a  small  regular 
army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  composed  of  the 
soldiery  recruited  by  the  Union,  and  employed  essen 
tially  in  the  protection  of  the  frontiers  against  the 
Indians.  Aside  from  that,  there  were  very  numerous 
corps  of  local  militia,  but  without  organization,  and 
existing  rather  on  paper  than  as  real  effectives. 

The  new  army  was  formed  differently  ;  and  it  is 
of  it  that  I  shall  speak  in  what  follows,  taking 
more  particularly,  as  an  object  of  study,  the  army 
of  five  hundred  thousand  men  formed  by  General 
McClellan. 

The  recruiting  is  entirely  voluntary,  and  furnishes 
corps  of  two  categories  ;  the  regulars,  who  have  been 
increased  by  some  regiments,  to  fill  up  the  gaps  created 
by  defections,  and  raised  only  by  the  Federal  authori 
ties  ;  and  the  volunteers,  who  engage  freely  for  three 
years,  or  for  the  duration  of  the  war,  and  which  are 
furnished  by  the  States.  The  volunteers  are  also 
divided  into  two  classes :  the  State  militia,  which  are 
the  old  local  battalions,  taken  in  mass  and  arranged 
on  a  war  footing ;  and  the  regiments  of  the  new  for 
mation,  created  for  the  occasion. 

The  regulars  would  correspond,  then,  to  our  Etat- 
Major  Federal,  and  more  particularly  to  its  sections 
in  the  permanent  service,  and  to  our  Federal  corps 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  55 

of  instructors  and  sub-instructors.  The  volunteers 
correspond  to  our  troops  wearing  the  cantonal  cock 
ades. 

The  mode  of  forming  the  volunteer  corps  is  curious 
enough.  They  are  at  first  the  object  of  a  sort  of 
special  enterprise.  A  patriotic  committee  assumes 
the  undertaking,  or  an  officer,  holding  a  superior 
grade,  raises  a  regiment  at  his  own  expense,  and  on 
his  own  responsibility.  In  order  to  do  that,  he  opens 
recruiting  offices,  ordinarily  for  companies;  he  makes 
proposals,  and  stirring  appeals  in  the  journals  ;  places 
placards  at  the  corners  of  the  streets ;  raises  flags  ; 
puts  inscriptions  over  the  office,  and  sometimes  has 
music.  Then,  when  the  recruits  have  reached  the 
minimum  prescribed  by  the  official  order,  he  passes 
them  for  pay,  and  to  the  service  of  the  State,  against 
the  fixed  allowances.  The  State,  in  its  turn,  passes 
the  organized  regiment  to  the  service  of  the  Union. 

O  O 

As  in  some  old  Swiss  corps  in  the  foreign  service, 
the  recruiting  of  a  certain  number  of  men  insures  a 
grade :  thirty  men  for  a  commission  of  tinder-lieu 
tenant,  eighty  for  one  of  a  captain. 

This  voluntary  mode  of  recruiting,  applied  to  the 
raising  of  considerable  effective  forces,  is  facilitated 
by  democratic  institutions  and  the  habitudes  of  public 
life,  without  speaking  of  the  mercantile  spirit,  which 
also  mingles  a  little  in  the  business.  An  excitement 
is  raised  by  great  popular  meetings, — and  there  were, 
among  others,  two  at  New  York  which  numbered  not 


56  REPORT   TO    THE 

lesa  than  fifty  thousand  men,  grouped  around  five 
stands;  also  by  lectures  in  clubs;  by  the  press,  and 
by  pecuniary  advantages  held  out  to  the  soldiers. 
Each  soldier,  besides  his  pay,  has  a  right  to  a  bounty 
of  a  hundred  dollars.  Lands  will  also  be  distributed, 
at  the  end  of  the  campaign,  as  national  re 
wards.  The  wives  and  the  children  of  the  soldiers 
receive  an  allowance  during  the  time  of  the  active 
service  of  the  soldier :  it  is  twelve  dollars  a  month  for 
a  woman  with  two  children.  Lastly,  the  States,  the 
cities,  the  corporations,  add  supplements  to  these 
bounties,  even  to  the  extent  of  doubling  them.* 

The  pay  is  high  in  comparison  with  that  of  other 
armies,  particularly  that  of  the  private  soldier  ;  that 
of  the  officer — especially  of  the  mounted  officer — who 
is  at  more  expense  in  his  charge,  is  not  in  the  same 
proportion. 

The  following  is  a  summary,  comprising  the  allow 
ance  for  subsistence,  clothing,  &c.,  for  the  officers, 
and  not  including  the  rations  for  the  non-commis- 

O 

sioned  officers  and  for  the  soldiers  : 

Lieutenant-General,     .     .     .     778  dollars  per  month. 
Major-General,        ....     477      «          " 
Brigadier-General,       .•„...     329       "  " 

*  For  the  last  levy  the  bounty  was  increased  by  two  dollars,  and 
by  an  advance  in  the  soldier's  pay  and  allowance.  The  State  of  New 
York  adds  to  that  fifty  dollars  ;  Boston,  a  hundred  dollars.  In  some 
States  there  would  bo  a  question  as  to  substituting  this  mode  of  re 
cruiting  by  a  conscription. 


SWISS   MILITAEY   DEPARTMENT. 


57 


Colonels  of  Staff,  of  Engineer 

Corps,  and  of  Cavalry,  .  237  dollars  per  month. 
Colonels  of  Artillery  and  of 

Infantry,        .....     222       "  " 

Lieutenant-Colonels,   .     ..  .     198       "  " 

Majors, ,    .    179       "  " 

Captains,       . 120.50  "  " 

1st  Lieutenant,       ....     110.50  "  " 

2d  Lieutenant,       .     .   .-.     *     105.50  «  " 
Non-commissioned  Officers, 

from  21  dollars  to     ...      15       "  " 

Privates, 13       "  « 

The  officers  of  the  staff  have  from  ten  to  twenty 
dollars  per  month  more  than  the  officers  of  infantry 
of  the  same  grade.  The  Engineer  Corps  has  also  a 
higher  pay  than  the  other  arms :  it  is,  for  soldiers  of 
the  first  class,  seventeen  dollars  per  month:  a  ser 
geant  receives  thirty-four  dollars  per  month. 

The  ration  of  subsistence  is : 

In  money  :  thirty  cents. 

In  kind :  to  the  man,  and  by  the  day,  three-quar 
ters  of  a  pound  of  pork  or  of  bacon,  or  one  pound  of 
fresh  or  of  salted  beef;  twenty-two  ounces  of  bread  or 
flour,  or  one  pound  of  biscuit,  or  one  pound  and  a 
quarter  of  corn-meal.  Also  a  pound  of  potatoes  to 
a  man,  three1  times  a  week.  Also  for  each  hundred 
rations,  eight  quarts  of  beans,  or  ten  pounds  of  rice. 
Also  ten  pounds  of  coffee  or  one  pound  and  a  half  of 


58  REPORT   TO   THE 

tea  ;  fifteen  pounds  of  sugar ;  four  quarts  of  salt ;  four 
quarts  of  vinegar;  four  pounds  of  soap;  a  pound  and 
a  half  of  candles. 

The  subsistence  not  received  in  kind  is  in  the  na 
ture  of  allowances.  The  isolated  soldier  not  drawing 
rations  receives  an  allowance  of  seventy-five  cents  per 
day. 

The  ration  of  forage  is : 

In  money :  eight  dollars  per  month. 

In  kind :  fourteen  pounds  of  hay,  or  twelve  pounds 
of  oats  per  day,  or  twelve  pounds  of  corn  or  barley. 
Half  rations  of  each  are  served. 

The  ration  of  straw  is  twelve  pounds  per  month  for 
a  man,  and  a  hundred  pounds  per  month  for  a  horse. 
In  the  field  straw  was  not  distributed.  Hay  was  also 
more  scarce  than  oats  or  corn.  Bread  was  also  gen 
erally  replaced  by  biscuit,  as  more  easy  of  transporta 
tion.  "With  biscuit,  the  basis  of  the  soldier's  aliment 
is :  bacon,  beans,  rice,  coffee,  and  sugar. 

The  officers  of  the  staff,  even  in  the  field,  did  not 
draw  in  kind,  except  the  forage  rations ;  they  received 
the  subsistence  rations  in  money.  Each  staff  formed 
one  or  more  messes,  transporting,  themselves,  their 
subsistence,  or  purchasing  it  on  the  route,  when  that 
was  possible.  The  brigade  commissaries  furnished 
them  at  a  fixed  price. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  59 


VI. 


EFFECTIVE   FORCES. DIFFERENT   ARMS    OF   THE   SERVICE. 

CLOTHING. ARMAMENT. EQUIPMENT. MATERIEL. 

SUBDIVISION. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1862,  the  Federal  effective 
forces  were  reckoned  as  follows : 

Regular  Army. — Six  regiments  of  cavalry,  five 
regiments  of  artillery,  nineteen  regiments  of  infantry. 
— Total,  with  the  corps  of  engineers,  and  the  various 
staffs,  39,273  men.* 

Volunteer  Army. — Thirty-five  regiments  of  cavalry 
(40,880  men) ;  thirty-five  regiments  of  artillery  (65,- 
065  men) ;  four  hundred  and  thirty  regiments  of  in 
fantry  (449,350  men) ;  which,  with  the  various  staffs, 
give  a  total  of  556,252  men. 

The  regiment  of  infantry  is  formed  on  the  English 
system.  It  reckons  only  a  battalion,  or  rather  ten 
companies,  which  are  left,  at  pleasure,  in  a  single  bat 
talion,  or  are  divided  into  two.  In  the  latter  case 
the  lieutenant-colonel  commands  one  battalion,  and 
the  major  the  other. 

The  regiments  of  the  regular  army  were  organized 
originally  in  two  battalions,  of  eight  companies  each, 
with  two  majors  to  the  regiment.  They  have  now 
been  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  the  volunteers. 
The  strength  of  the  company,  by  the  regulations,  is 

*  Reduced  to  25,000  men  by  defections  on  the  part  of  the  South. 


60  REPOKT   TO    THE 

from  eighty-three  to  a  hundred  and  one  men.  There 
were  three  officers  to  a  company ;  but  it  has  just  been 
decided  that  there  shall  be  a  fourth. 

The  average  effective  force  of  the  regiments  on 
going  into  the  field  was  about  seven  hundred  men 
under  arms. 

The  regiment  is  provided  with  music,  which  is 
ordinarily  execrable. 

The  regiment  of  cavalry  is  composed  of  three 
squadrons,  commanded  each  by  a  major.  The  squad 
ron  has  four  companies,  the  company  ninety-five  men 
at  the  maximum.  Few  of  them  exceeded  sixty  men 
on  entering  the  field. 

The  regiment  of  artillery  is  divided  into  three 
battalions,  commanded,  each  one,  by  a  major;  the 
battalion  has  four  companies;  the  batteries  six 
pieces.* 

Among  the  special  corps,  a  staff  corps  cannot  be 
precisely  stated,  inasmuch  as,  properly  speaking,  it 
does  not  exist.  It  was  not  represented  in  the  old 
army  at  all  except  by  the  topographical  engineers,  by 
the  professors  of  the  school  of  We£t  Point,  and  by  the 
inspectors-general.  The  functions  of  the  officers  of 
the  staff  are  now  filled  by  officers  taken  ad  hoc  from 
the  corps  or  from  civil  life,  and  appointed,  like  the 
generals,  by  the  Government.  The  greater  part  of 

*  The  artillery  is  not  organized  by  battalions,  but  by  regiments  of 
twelve  companies,  each  company  constituting  a  battery  of  four  or  six 
pieces.—  (U.  S,  A'Plery  Officer.) 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  61 

the  European  officers  who  have  taken  service  under 
the  United  States  have  been  employed  as  staff 
officers. 

The  engineer  corps  is  furnished  by  the  regular  army. 
One  company  of  pioneers,  chosen  from  the  different 
corps,  is  formed  in  each  division.  The  corps  of  en 
gineers  of  the  regular  army  reckons  only  seven  to 
eight  hundred  men,  comprising  therein  the  officers,  of 
whom  there  are  two  colonels,  seven  lieutenant- 
colonels,  sixteen  majors,  twenty-two  captains,  &c.* 

The  commissariat  is  formed  of  officers  taken  from 
the  corps,  or  of  civil  functionaries.  This  service  is  a 
little  at  a  disadvantage  (en  soi(ffrance\  and  suffers 
from  the  fact,  among  others,  that  commissaries  filling 
very  important  functions,  commissaries  of  divisions 
and  of  army  corps,  have  only  subaltern  grades.  Hav 
ing  all  the  care  of  the  supplies  and  their  transportation, 
their  task  is  very  important  in  a  country  often  without 
roads  and  without  subsistence,  and  where  the  armies 
have  to  draw  after  them  immense  trains.  From 
thence  easily  arise  abuses,  and  I  might  properly  re 
mark,  on  this  occasion,  that  there  is  a  great  excess  of 
military  baggage  in  the  army  of  the  North. 

The  ordnance  corresponds  almost  to  the  staff  pecu 
liar  to  the  artillery.  It  is  a  department  which  is 
charged  with  the  work  of  the  arsenals  and  the  found 
ries.  It  reckons  a  regular  corps  of  about  five  hun- 

*  The  corps  of  topographical  engineers  having  been  merged  into 
this  corps,  its  organization  has  been  changed. 


62 


REPORT   TO    THE 


dred  men,  at  the  head  of  which  is  a  colonel,  and  to 
which  have  been  added  a  great  number  of  volunteers 
and  laborers  from  civil  life,  to  supply  the  pressing 
needs  at  the  entrance  on  the  campaign. 

The  medical  corps  is  composed  of  military  surgeons 
and  those  in  charge  of  the  hospitals,  assisted  by  civil 
surgeons,  by  volunteers,  by  nurses,  &c.  This  service 
is  also  at  a  disadvantage,  although  the  Government 
devotes  to  it  the  greatest  anxiety.  The  churches  are 
generally  used  as  hospitals ;  besides,  at  Washington, 
there  have  been  constructed  for  the  same  use  exten 
sive  frame  buildings,  furnished  with  every  desirable 
comfort.  Several  large  and  sumptuous  vessels  serve 
as  hospital  boats ;  the  ambulances  (cacoltts)  are  after 
the  French  system. 

The  signal  corps  is  a  department  of  the  staff  pecu 
liar  to  the  United  States,  and  which  has  assumed 
considerable  importance  there.  By  means  of  flags  by 
day,  and  of  colored  fires  by  night,  it  communicates 
simultaneously  with  the  marine  and  with  the  several 
corps.  It  is  an  application  of  the  usages  of  fleets  to 
the  land  service ;  and  has  even  acquired  sufficient  de 
velopment  to  furnish  scope  for  productive  industry. 
A  large  manufactory  of  night-signals  of  this  kind,  the 
Coston  manufactory,  of  New  York,  even  exports  its 
products  to  Europe.  By  night  the  patrols  recognize 
one  another  by  lanterns  and  rockets  with  colored  fires ; 
and  by  their  changes  of  shade  they  form  the  words  of 
the  countersign.  For  the  same  purpose,  each  division 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  63 

of  the  army  has  its  distinctive  colors,  marked  by  a 
special  flag  remaining  with  the  staff  of  division. 

There  are  also  attached  to  the  staif,  balloonists,  tel 
egraphists,  printers,  topographers ;  mechanics  and 
engineers  for  the  use  of  railroads  ;  photographers  and 
estafetteS)  without  reckoning  multitudes  of  journalists 
and  private  historians,  who  obtain,  very  improperly, 
the  authority  to  follow  these  operations,  and  who  re 
ceive  forage  rations. 

The  dress  of  the  army  is  simple  and  practical,  as  is 
suitable  for  an  army  created  solely  for  the  campaign. 
It  varies  according  to  the  States,  but  it  does  not  differ 
widely  from  that  of  the  regulars,  which  has  served  as 
a  standard.  It  is  a  deep  blue  frock-coat ;  has  one  row 
of  yellow  buttons ;  is  loose ;  is  worn  ordinarily,  when 
out  of  service,  open,  with  a  vest ;  pantaloons  of  the 
same  color ;  cap  of  the  same  color,  and  of  form  simi 
lar  to  ours,  but  higher.  A  long  sack-coat  serves  as 
the  garb  in  quarters.  Each  man  has,  besides,  a  heavy 
great-coat,  with  a  large  cape  falling  back  on  the 
coat.  Some  corps,  amongst  others,  of  the  Western 
States,  have  the  hat  of  black  felt,  with  wide  brim,  in 
place  of  the  cap. 

.  Other  regiments,  particularly  of  !N~ew  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  have  costumes  a  little  more  fanciful. 
There  are  red  Zouaves,  blue  Zouaves,  gray  chasseurs, 
green  sharpshooters,  with  variations  of  cut  and  of 
color  more  or  less  picturesque,  and  with  sounding 
names.  A  New  York  regiment,  the  Lafayette  Guard, 


64  REPORT   TO   THE 

lias  the  classic  uniform  of  the  French  line ;  another, 
of  the  chasseurs  d  pied  of  the  imperial  guard.  The 
mounted  corps  of  artillery  do  not  differ  sensibly  from 
the  others,  except  that  they  have  the  jacket  very  short. 

The  distinctive  marks  are  the  gimp  on  the  arms, 
for  the  non-commissioned  officers.  As  to  the  commis 
sioned  officers,  they  had  formerly  the  epaulette,  suffi 
ciently  massive ;  to-day  it  has  been  replaced  by  wide 
bars,  crosswise  on  the  shoulders,  with  border  and  orna 
ment  in  silver  and  gold. 

The  ground  of  these  straps  (in  English,  shoulder- 
straps),  by  its  color  indicates  the  arm ;  the  embroid 
eries  indicate  the  grade,  to  wit :  a  bar  of  gold  at  each 
extremity  for  the  lieutenants ;  two  for  the  captains ; 
a  gold  leaf  for  the  majors  ;  a  silver  leaf  for  the  lieu 
tenant-colonels  ;  a  silver  eagle,  in  the  middle  of  the 
straps,  for  the  colonels ;  a  star  for  the  brigadier-gen 
erals  ;  two  for  the  major-generals  (generals  of  divi 
sions);  and  three  for  the  lieutenant-general  (gen- 
eral-iii-chief). 

Besides,  the  coat  of  the  subaltern  officers  has  one 
row  of  buttons ;  that  of  the  superior  officers  and  gen 
erals,  two  rows ;  in  pairs  of  two  for  the  brigadier-gen 
erals,  and  of  three  for  the  generals  of  division. 

There  is  also  worn  in  actual  service  the  crimson 
scarf,  en  sautoir,  or  crosswise. 

The  pantaloon  of  the  officer  has  a  cord  on  the  exte 
rior  seam,  of  color  corresponding  to  the  arm  of  ser 
vice. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  65 

The  pantaloon  of  the  non-commissioned  officer,  a 
stripe  the  color  of  that  of  the  respective  corps. 

The  arming  and  equipment  suffered  at  the  outset 
from  the  deficiency  of  the  arsenals  and  the  magazines, 
plundered  by  the  men  of  the  South.  But  the  manu 
facturing  power  of  the  States  of  the  North  soon  rem 
edied  the  evil. 

The  arm  of  the  infantry  is  the  rifled  musket. 
There  are  all  models  of  them,  but  the  pattern  styled 
the  English  now  prevails.  European  commerce  has 
furnished  a  good  part  of  them  ;  the  rest  are  made  in 
the  United  States.  One  arm  peculiar  to  this  army,  is 
a  five-shooter  rifled  revolver  (Colt's)  which  has  been 
given  to  some  regiments,  and  which  has  been  much 
praised. 

The  cavalry  is  armed  in  part  with  the  carbine  j 
others  with  a  revolver,  which  is  worn  in  a  leather  hol 
ster  fixed  to  the  sabre-belt,  a  little  behind  the  right  hip. 

The  equipment  is,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  corps, 
the  belt  with  the  cartridge-box  and  bayonet.  Many 
regiments  have,  however,  the  sabre  bayonet  at  the  belt, 
and  the  cartridge-box  attached  to  the  shoulder-belt 
passing  crosswise  under  the  waist-belt. 

All  the  straps  are  black,  and  the  general  aspect  of 
the  troops  is  gloomy.  Each  soldier  has  a  knapsack 
with  the  articles  of  dress,  and  a  small  equipment,  va 
riously  composed ;  as  a  blanket,  a  bag  for  bread,  a 
metal  bottle  covered  with  cloth,  a  pair  of  boots,  and 
a  tin  cup. 


REPORT   TO    THE 


The  officers  wear  high  boots  over  the  pantaloons, 
which  is  less  a  prescription  than  a  necessity,  in  a 
country  often  muddy,  and  where  they  do  not  often 
take  the  trouble,  even  in  the  approaches  to  the  large 
cities,  to  pave  the  ways. 

Some  regiments  have  the  large  tents  for  eight  or 
ten  men,  which  follow  with  the  baggage  of  the  regi 
ment  ;  others  have  the  shelter  tent,  on  the  French 
system,  more  or  less  modified.  One  of  the  principal 
modifications  consists,  for  example,  in  the  white  sheets 
being  replaced  by  black  ones,  of  India-rubber  cloth, 
which  oifers  the  double  advantage  of  being  lighter 
and  superior  against  rain,  and  of  not  being  perceived 
so  far  by  the  reconnoitring  parties  of  the  enemy. 
In  America  it  is  not  much  dearer  than  white  canvas. 
The  mounted  men  have  a  large  piece  of  gum-cloth, 
with  an  opening  in  the  middle,  serving  at  once  as 
cloak  and  blanket, — very  convenient  for  rainy  weath 
er.  Each  artillery  carriage  has  also  its  cover  of  India- 
rubber  cloth. 

The  saddlery  has  a  particular  character.  The  new 
regiments,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  mounted  officers, 
have  a  saddle  invented  by  General  McClellan,  as  the 
result  of  careful  study  in  Europe  and  in  America,  and 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  experts,  unites  all  the  excel 
lencies  of  the  different  systems  for  a  campaign  saddle. 
Among  other  things  itf  is  very  convenient  for  packing, 
arid  does  little  injury  to  the  horses.  It  is  composed, 
altogether,  of  two  side  panels  of  wood  joined,  leaving 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  67 

tlie  back  free,  by  means  of  a  peculiar  arrangement  of 
hoops  and  straps.  The  stirrups,  on  the  Mexican 
model,  are  of  wood,  and  covered  in  front  with  a  band 
of  leather,  which  rests  against  the  end  of  the  foot  with 
out  engaging  it,  and  protects  the  lower  part  of  the  leg 
against  rain  and  the  spatterings  of  the  mud.  There 
are  no  pistol  holsters,  the  revolver  being  worn,  as  I 
have  already  said,  at  the  belt,  but  instead  two  pockets 
for  various  supplies. 

The  m&tirid  of  the  artillery  has  also  suffered  dis 
advantage  from  the  spoliation  of  the  arsenals.  A 
special  manufactory  has  been  provided  for  a  good 
part  of  it,  and  has  made,  amongst  others,  all  sorts  of 
cannon,  more  or  less  monstrous,  for  pieces  of  position. 
The  calibres  are  now  without  limit ;  and  the  styles 
are  so  numerous  that  it  would  be  very  difficult  at 
once  to  make  an  exact  classification  of  them. 

For  the  navy,  have  been  constructed  rifled  pieces  of 
one  hundred  and  of  two  hundred  pounds,  modifica 
tions  more  or  less  fundamental  of  the  Whitworth  and 
Armstrong  guns. 

The  field-pieces  are : 

1st.  Old  French  eight-pound  howitzer  guns,  called 
Louis  Napoleons,  in  bronze,  and  of  smooth  bore. 

2d.  Twelve-pound  pieces,  and  twenty-four-pound 
howitzers,  of  bronze,  smooth  bore. 

3d.  Four-pound  pieces,  and  rifled  eight-pounders, 
on  the  systems  of  Parrott  and  Hodman,  of  iron. 

In  the  reserve  artillery  are  used  rifled  eight-pound- 


68  EEPOET    TO    THE 

ers,  twelve-pound  cannon,  smooth  bore,  and  twenty- 
four-poimd  howitzers. 

The  artillery  of  division  is  composed  ordinarily  of 
three  rifled  batteries  of  small  calibre,  and  one  battery 
of  eight-pound  howitzer  cannon.  A  battery  of  regu 
lars  is  attached  to  each  division,  and  the  commandant 
of  this  battery  commands  also  the  artillery  brigade  of 
the  division. 

The  Rodman  rifled  cannon  is  a  piece  of  wrought 
iron,  in  hoops,  with  five  grooves,  with  conic  projec 
tile,  having  the  lower  end  of  lead,  of  eight  or  nine 
pounds  for  the  field  calibre,  and  of  thirty-six  pounds 
for  the  siege  pieces. 

The  Parrott  cannon,  more  improved,  is  a  cast-iron 
piece,  widened  at  the  breech,  of  from  three  to  ten 
grooves,  according  to  the  calibre.  The  small  calibre 
of  the  piece  called  the  four,  because  it  corresponds  to 
that  number  of  the  smooth  bore,  has  a  projectile  of 
eight  pounds.  There  are  some  of  them  of  the  weight 
of  two  hundred  pounds,  requiring  a  charge  of  from 
fifteen  to  eighteen  pounds  of  powder.  The  Parrott 
projectile  is  furnished  with  a  copper  covering. 

There  are  also  Dahlgren  cannon,  Lincoln  mortars, 
James'  howitzers  &c.,  &c. ;  but  I  should  not  under 
take  to  enter  on  a  detailed  description,  not  being  suffi 
ciently  sure  to  avoid  confusion  and  errors.  Among 
the  curious  innovations  which  free  competition  has 
brought  to  light,  I  have  seen  a  rifled  field  cannon,  de 
signed  to  be  pushed  instead  of  being  drawn,  by  its 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  69 

team.  The  axle  of  the  carriage  is  furnished  with  a 
double  plate  of  sheet  iron,  serving  as  a  parapet  to  the 
artillerists,  and  with  a  range  of  pikes  in  front  to  oper 
ate  as  bayonets.* 

The  Federal  forces  are  subject  to  the  orders  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  who  exercises  the 
chief  command  through  the  medium  of  the  Secretary 
of  "War,  or  of  a  lieutenant-general,  or  sometimes 
directly.  I  am  obliged  to  say  or,  for,  in  the  actual 
state  of  things,  it  is  difficult  to  know  upon  whom  rests 
the  superior  direction  of  operations. 

General  Scott,  after  Bull  Run,  was  replaced  by 
General  McClellan,  and  the  latter,  once  confined 
in  the  peninsula  of  Yorktown,  was  not  replaced  by 
any  one.  After  the  recent  reverses  on  the  Shenan- 
doah  and  the  Chickahominy,  General  Ilalleck  was 
called  from  the  AVest  to  the  post  of  General-in-chief 
at  Washington ;  and  it  appears  to  be  he  who  now 

*  It  would  be  scarcely  possible  to  collect  more  errors  in  so  small 
a  space. 

The  materiel  of  the  artillery  has  suffered  no  disadvantage  from  the 
spoliation  of  the  arsenals ;  no  special  manufactory  has  been  provided 
for  a  good  part  of  it ;  calibres  are  not  without  limit ;  and  the  styles 
are  neither  very  numerous  nor  difficult  to  classify. 

The  one-hundred-pounder  and  two-hundred-pounder  rifled  guus 
for  the  navy  are  Parrott  guns,  such  as  are  used  in  the  army,  and  are 
not  fundamental  modifications  either  of  Whitworth  or  Armstrong 
guns. 

The  artillery  of  division  is  not  ordinarily  composed  as  stated.  The 
number  of  batteries  attached  to  a  division  of  infantry  depends  en 
tirely  upon  the  numerical  strength  of  the  division ;  one,  two,  or  three 
pieces  to  one  thousand  men,  as  depends  upon  circumstances.  The 
proportion  of  rifled  to  smooth-bore  batteries  depends  also  on  circum- 


70 


REPORT   TO   THE 


commands,  or  rather  directs  in  chief  the  operations, 
in  concert  with  the  Chief  and  the  Secretaries  of  the 
Government,  who,  in  their  turn,  are  controlled  by  the 
military  committee  of  the  Senate,  and  by  Congress, 
whose  intervention  in  the  conduct  of  the  war  is  daily. 
Numerous  political  tribunes,  besides,  as  well  as  the 
imperious  declamations  of  clubs,  and  of  a  licentious 
press,  have  often  also  too  considerable  an  influence 
over  the  employment  of  the  military  forces.  It  fol 
lows  that  the  chief  command  is  in  truth  the  weak 
part  of  the  army,  and  this  duty  the  most  at  a  dis 
advantage,  while,  however,  no  one  in  particular  can 
be  accused — this  vice  appertaining  to  the  very  insti 
tutions  of  the  country.  It  is,  however,  aggravated  in 
the  present  case  by  the  accidental  circumstance  that 

stances — the  smooth-bore,  instead  of  the  rifled,  being  generally  in 
excess. 

There  is  no  "  Rodman"  system  of  artillery  in  the  United  States 
service.  Major  Rodman,  of  the  United  States  Ordnance,  invented 
and  perfected  a  method  of  casting  guns  of  large  calibre,  which  is  ap 
plied  to  existing  "systems." 

There  are  neither  "four-pounders,"  "Lincoln  Mortars"  nor  "James* 
Howitzers"  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  Artillery:  nor  is  every 
artillery  carriage  furnished  with  a  cover  of  India-rubber  cloth. 

The  fidd-pieces  of  the  United  States  service  are  the  light  twelve- 
pounder  (smooth  bore),  and  the  wrought  iron  rifled  gun  of  three 
inches  diameter  of  bore,  the  latter  weighing  about  eight  hundred 
pounds,  and  throwing  a  projectile  weighing  about  ten  pounds. 

Twenty-pounder  and  ten-pounder  Parrott  guns  are  temporarily  used 
in  small  numbers ;  as  are  also  occasionally  the  twelve,  twenty-four, 
and  thirty-two-pounder  howitzers — relics  of  a  former  system. 

A  cast  iron  gun  of  four  and  a  half  inches  diameter  of  bore,  throw 
ing  a  projectile  weighing  about  thirty-two  pounds,  is  the  ordinary 
regulation  siege  gun. — (U.  S.  Artillery  Officer.} 


SWISS    MTL1TARY    DEPARTMENT.  71 

neither  the  President  nor  the  Secretary  of  "War  is  a 
military  man  ;  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  not 
a  seaman  ;  that  there  are  no  officers  in  the  military 
committee  of  the  Senate,  and  that  the  two  great 
political  parties  of  the  North  wage  an  incessant  war 
against  the  most  conspicuous  generals. 

The  Federal  forces  have  been  distributed  into 
several  armies.  There  were  formerly  two  principal 
ones — that  of  McClellan  in  Virginia,  and  that  of 
Halleck  in  Tennessee ;  and  a  secondary  one  under 
Fremont  in  "Western  Virginia.  Besides,  there  are 
also  three  strong  detachments  on  the  Atlantic  coast, 
and  five  or  six  others  here  and  there. 

Since  the  first  days  of  July,  there  have  been,  be 
sides  the  detachments,  which  are  a  little  less  numer 
ous,  it  is  true,  three  principal  armies. 

1st.  That  of  the  Potomac,  which  would  now  be 
better  called  that  of  the  James  River,  under  General 
McClellan,  to  the  southeast  of  Richmond,  90,000  men. 

2d.  That  of  General  Pope,  before  Washington,  in 
the  direction  to  Richmond,  about  50,000  men. 

3d.  That  of  General  Grant,  formerly  of  Halleck,  at 
Corinth,  in  the  south  of  Tennessee,  about  50,000  men. 

These  different  armies  are  divided  into  army  corps 
of  two  to  three  divisions  of  infantry  and  one  of 
cavalry. 

The  division  reckons  ordinarily  three  brigades  of 
infantry  and  one  of  artillery. 

The  brigade   of  infantry  reckons   ordinarily  four 


72  REPORT   TO   THE 

regiments,  performing  the  service  of  the  line  and  of 
chasseurs. 

The  regulations  for  manoeuvring  the  different  arms, 
and  of  the  field  service,  are  generally  imitated  from 
the  French  rules,  of  which  they  are  often  a  literal 
translation. 

The  regulations  for  the  internal  service,  the  admin 
istration,  and  the  manual  of  arms,  are  reproduced 
rather  from  the  English  system. 

Amongst  the  military  publications  outside  of  the 
regulations,  may  be  cited,  amongst  others,  a  work  of 
General  Halleck  on  the  military  art,  which  has  merit 
in  regard  to  judgments  upon  strategy  and  grand 
tactics.  General  Scott  and  General  Casey  have  pub 
lished  elementary  books  upon  the  subject  of  infantry. 
General  McClellan  has  published  a  work  on  the  cav 
alry  service,  and  two  volumes  of  studies  on  the 
European  armies,  which  he  visited  at  the  epoch  of  the 
war  of  the  Crimea,  being  then  captain  of  engineers. 
Major  Delafield,  also  delegated  to  the  Crimea,  has 
published  a  book  on  engineering,  and  on  the  art  of 
war  in  Europe,  very  rich  in  statistical  information. 
The  greater  part  of  the  most  useful  French  military 
works  are  reproduced  in  extracts,  or  translations 
entire  into  the  English  language,  and  serve  for  the 
instruction  of  the  officers :  as  the  Art  of  War  of 
Jomiiii ;  the  Staff  Manual  of  De  Rouvre  ;  the  Memo 
rial  of  Laisne  ;  the  Institutions  of  Marmont,  etc. 

The  maps  and  plans  prepared  by  the  topographical 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  73 

engineers  are  generally  fine  works,  which,  besides, 
are  executed  with  rapidity.  Topography,  it  may  be 
observed  further,  is  a  science  much  appreciated  and 
widely  diffused  in  the  United  States.  The  periodical 
reviews,  and  even  the  daily  journals,  accompany  all 
their  narratives  of  military  events  with  plans  and 
sketches,  some  of  which  are  occasionally  valuable,  and 
all  have  a  merit  of  seasonableness,  of  which  the  army 
often  takes  advantage. 

By  spring,  the  divisions  of  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac  were  properly  instructed  and  disciplined  in 
the  manoeuvres.  It  is  true  that  they  had  been  eight 
months  receiving  instruction,  and  that  in  circum 
stances  calculated  to  develop  the  aptitude  of  soldiers. 
The  cavalry,  amongst  other  arms,  considering  the  fine 
race  of  horses  and  the  natural  boldness  of  the  men,  is 
excellent  as  light  cavalry  and  for  foraging.  To  make 
a  reconnoissance,  or  an  adventurous  raid,  it  would  not 
yield  in  any  thing  to  the  best  cossacks  of  the  Russian 
army.  Expeditions,  sustained  for  twenty  leagues 
over  frightful  roads,  or  across  woods,  rivers,  and 
marshes,  by  day  and  by  night,  constitute  the  ordinary 
service  of  a  good  number  of  the  regiments. 

The  general  information  of  the  men  in  all  which 
concerns  encampments,  and  the  establishment  of 
routes,  bridges,  and  abatis,  their  patience  and  their 
sangfroid  under  disappointments,  their  force  of  will, 
and  their  persistence  against  obstacles,  are  truly 
remarkable.  On  the  other  hand,  the  etiquette  of  dis- 
4 


74:  REPORT    TO    THE 

cipline,  the  respect  for  authority,  and  the  good  order 
of  the  internal  service,  fall  short  of  what  is  desirable. 

There  is  wanting  also  the  spirit  of  cheerfulness  and 
gayety  which  sustains  so  happily  the  morale  of  the 
weak  at  trying  moments.  The  conduct  and  the  char 
acter  of  the  American  soldier  have  something  of  sad 
ness,  of  reserve,  and  of  silence,  which  is  precisely  the 
opposite  of  that  which  is  met  with  in  the  European 
armies.  The  song  and  the  laugh  there  are  the  excep 
tions.  It  is  true  that  the  soldier  is  at  the  same  time 
a  citizen.  He  thinks  of  his  country  and  of  his  party ; 
he  talks  politics ;  he  reads  almost  every  day  the 
gazettes  brought  to  the  camps  by  intrepid  little 
carriers ;  he  has  family  cares ;  lie  receives  and 
writes  many  letters  ;  he  often  sends  a  correspondence 
to  the  journals  ;  he  communicates  military  impres 
sions  to  the  Senators  of  his  State,  and  his  plans  of 
campaign  to  chiefs  the  most  elevated  in  grade.  Few 
knapsacks  of  the  private  soldier  would  be  found  un 
provided  with  a  complete  apparatus  of  secretary, 
paper  and  envelopes  of  different  sizes,  collections  of 
postage-stamps,  blotting-paper,  etc.  I  have  often 
borrowed  from  the  first  comer  the  materials  for  my 
correspondence. 

If  the  American  soldiers  are  not  gay  in  their  dispo 
sition,  it  is  not,  however,  through  contempt  of  alco 
holic  stimulants.  Intoxication  is  a  vice  too  common, 
and  so  excessive  in  their  ranks  that  many  indulge  in 
it  even  to  the  extent  of  falling  on  the  spot  by  the  side 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  75 

of  their  guns.  Whence  arises  this  injurious  conse 
quence,  that  from  fear  of  the  abuse  of  spirituous 
liquors,  it  becomes  necessary  to  prohibit  even  the 
moderate  use,  and  that  their  sale  at  retail  is  inter 
dicted  to  the  sutlers,  as  well  as  at  the  stores  of  the 
garrisons. 

Amongst  the  qualities  which  are  also  wanting, 
ought  to  be  mentioned  that  sentiment  of  fellowship 
and  of  fraternity  in  arms  which  contributes  so  much 
to  give  confidence  and  solidity  to  the  character  of  an 
army.  Individuals  and  corps  live  there  a  little  too 
much  for  themselves,  seeing,  often,  only  a  rival  where 
it  would  have  been  proper  to  see  a  friend  and  a 
brother  in  arms.  This  defect  can  be  easily  compre 
hended  and  excused  in  a  country  making  but  the 
commencement  of  its  apprenticeship  to  a  military 
career,  and  where  all  the  institutions  and  the  habi 
tudes  of  civil  life  have  hitherto  reposed  on  the  largest 
allowance  possible  of  individual  liberty. 

On  the  other  hand,  this  same  spirit  of  liberty,  of  indi 
viduality,  and  of  constant  rivalry,  which  has  so  strong 
ly  developed  artificial  contrivances  adapted  to  aid 
man  in  his  daily  struggles  against  nature, — mechanic 
industry,  among  others,  and  machinery  of  every  spe 
cie?, — contributes  also  its  advantages  to  the  army. 

In  no  other  army,  for  example,  are  the  railroads  of 
a  use  so  important  and  so  frequent. 

They  have  used  them  in  the  South  for  skilful 
strategic  combinations,  and,  on  both  sides,  they  have 


76  REPORT  TO   THE 

daily  employed  them  for  tactical  movements  of  the 
greatest  boldness,  sometimes  for  transportation  under 
fire  of  the  enemy,  for  estafettes,  and  even  for  recon- 
noissances  and  scouting  expeditions. 

At  the  time  of  the  recent  evacuation  of  the  White 
House,  the  28th  of  June,  the  Federal  General  Stone- 
man,  commandant-in-chief  of  the  cavalry,  advanced 
by  way  of  exploration  and  as  a  scout  on  a  locomotive, 
in  the  direction  of  Richmond,  in  order  that  he  might 
be  able  to  communicate  directly  and  promptly  the 
signal  to  fire  the  provisions  which  there  was  no  longer 
time  to  carry  away. 

In  another  reconnoissance  of  the  most  adventurous 
character,  some  time  before,  two  officers,  as  brave 
as  intelligent,  of  the  staff  of  General  McClel- 
lan,  the  Count  de  Paris  and  the  Duke  de  Chartres, 
requested,  on  the  route,  a  locomotive,  and,  climbing 
upon  it,  they  wTere  able  to  explore  promptly  the  coun 
try,  and  to  bring  back,  in  one  morning,  news  of  the 
enemy  acting  at  the  distance  of  fifteen  leagues  from 
head-quarters. 

The  construction  of  new  railroads,  their  destruction 
and  their  repair,  play  a  very  grand  part  in  this  war. 

The  telegraphs  are  managed  with  not  less  boldness 
and  activity.  In  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  for  ex 
ample,  the  staff  of  the  general  in  command  rarely 
stops  more  than  two  or  three  days  without  being 
connected  with  all  its  divisions,  and  with  the  Govern 
ment  at  "Washington.  "Whether  it  were  on  the  boats 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  77 

at  anchor  in  the  bays,  or  in  the  midst  of  the  marshes 
of  the  Peninsula  of  Yorktown,  or  in  the  bosoms  of 
thick  forests,  while  the  routes  were  not  even  traced 
for  the  wagons,  one  could  see  rising  all  around  him 
the  network  of  wires  with  wondrous  rapidity.  More 
than  one  officer  of  the  staff  has  recovered  his  direction 
in  the  forests  of  Virginia  by  means  of  the  posts,  or 
the  trees  truncated  for  this  purpose,  of  the  telegraph 
ists, — and  the  latter  have  often  unrolled  their  wires  as 
rapidly  as  the  army  marched. 

The  telegraph  connected  not  only  the  various 
fractions  of  one  and  the  same  army,  but  also  the  dif 
ferent  armies  themselves  together,  through  the  me 
dium  of  the  central  office  at  Washington.  The  Gov 
ernment  had  thus  at  each  instant,  and  at  pleasure, 
news  of  the  operations  over  many  hundred  leagues  of 
extent. 

The  balloons  were  frequently  employed  with  success 
for  reconnoissances ;  and  during  their  station  above 
the  forests  masking  the  ground,  they  were  sometimes 
put  in  communication  with  the  head-quarters  by  a 
telegraphic  wire.  A  scout  of  this  novel  kind  ren 
dered,  amongst  others,  signal  services  to  General 
JVlcClellan  during  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  the  31st 
of  May. 

Field  printing-presses,  operating  with  great  celerity, 
are  also  attached  to  various  staffs.  As  for  any  thing 
further  on  this  head,  the  printing-press  is  more  con 
nected  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Ameri- 


78  REPORT   TO   THE 

can  people  than  with  those  of  any  other.  There  is 
not  a  village  which  has  not  its  printing-press  and  its 
journal.  A  head-quarters,  as  populous  as  many  a  vil 
lage,  might  well  pretend  to  the  same  privilege.  I 
subjoin  here,  Mr.  Counsellor,  a  specimen  of  the  ele 
gant  pamphlets  which  our  printers  executed  for  us  in 
the  marshy  woods  of  the  environs  of  Yorktown.  I 
should  add  that  these  pamphlets,  and  the  telegrams, 
simplify  greatly  the  labor  of  the  staff  department. 

But  all  these  improved  engines  are,  after  all,  but 
accessories ;  and  if  the  directing  thought  of  the  ope 
rations  is  not  up  to  the  height  of  its  task,  they  only 
complicate  it  for  him.  The  facilities  of  execution  ag 
gravate  the  faults  of  conception  more  frequently  than 
they  aid  in  correcting  them.  In  many  circumstances, 
it  would  have  been  very  desirable  for  the  army  to 
have  fewer  telegrams  at  its  command,  and  to  be  more 
independent  of  the  political  fluctuations  of  Wash 
ington. 


YIII. 

ARMORED   VESSELS. 


Since  I  am  to  speak  of  machinery  utilized  for  the 
war,  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  saying,  also,  a  few  words 
of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts  of  this  war,  viz. : 
the  transformation  in  naval  constructions. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  79 

We  may  well  wait  for  what  the  mechanical  genius 
of  this  people  may  realize,  having  reference  to  the 
means  of  the  struggle,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  inno 
vations  in  other  more  pacific  domains.  The  results  have 
still  surpassed  the  anticipations.  The  old  wooden 
navy,  those  colossi  of  120  guns,  which,  made  the  pride 
of  England  and  of  France,  are  now  only  decayed 
powers  in  the  presence  of  the  heavy  calibres  and  the 
armored  vessels  created  by  the  Americans. 

The  two  belligerent  parties  had  from  the  com 
mencement  of  the  war  constructed  vessels  covered 
with  iron,  of  various  forms,  and  on  each  side  they 
hoped  to  surprise  one  another.  On  both  sides  they 
found  themselves  gradually  entering  the  lists  with 
equal  arms. 

The  6th  of  March,  in  Hampton  Roads,  near  Fort 
ress  Monroe,  one  of  the  strangest  naval  combats  took 
place — one  with  which  the  whole  world  has  resounded. 
The  secession  frigate,  the  Merrimac,  proceeding  from 
Norfolk,  had  just  attacked,  and  disabled  in  a  few 
hours,  two  powerful  frigates  of  war  of  the  United 
States,  the  Cumberland  and  the  Congress.  The  next 
day  a  vessel  equally  singular  in  construction,  the  Mon 
itor,  in  its  turn  entered  the  contest  on  the  side  of  the 
Federals,  and  forced  the  terrible  vanquisher  to  a  retreat. 

Having  had  the  advantage  of  seeing  these  two  ves 
sels,  and  of  visiting  the  Monitor  in  the  very  roadstead 
of  the  combat,  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  here  a  brief 
description  of  it. 


80  EEPOKT   TO   THE 

The  Merrimac  has  nothing  particularly  remarkable 
in  fact,  except  her  iron  armor  and  ram.  She  is  an  old 
frigate  of  the  first  class,  of  the  United  States.  She 
was  of  very  small  cost,  and  made  in  185T  her  first 
voyage  to  England.  Anchored  at  Southampton,  she 
was  then  remarked  upon  by  critics  for  her  proportions 
and  for  the  cut  of  her  hull,  and  provoked  controversy 
amongst  seamen  and  builders. 

Sunk  by  the  Federals  at  the  time  that  they  were 
engaged  in  evacuating  their  maritime  arsenal  at  Nor 
folk,  where  she  was,  she  was  afterwards  put  afloat 
again  by  the  Secessionists.  They  razeed  her,  and 
covered  her  with  iron  plating,  rising  by  plates  super 
posed  one  upon  the  other,  in  the  form  of  a  roof  above 
the  deck.  They  furnished  her  with  ten  Armstrong 
guns :  four  at  each  side,  one  on  the  prow,  and  one  on 
the  poop.  In  front  was  fixed  an  enormous  iron  ram ; 
by  the  ports,  and  by  two  openings  near  the  chim 
ney,  were  arranged  pipes  for  throwing  boiling  water 
and  steam,  as  a  defence  against  attempts  at  board 
ing. 

When  the  JVlerrimac  wished  to  go  out,  thus  armed, 
for  the  first  time,  she  could  not  float,  and  was  obliged 
to  be  lightened ;  but  she  remained  always  slow  in  her 
movements.  Only  once  was  she  able  to  use  her  ram 
at  pleasure ;  this  was  on  the  occasion  of  her  demon 
stration  against  the  Cumberland,  which  once  ex 
perienced  her  destructive  power.  Since  then,  her  ad 
versaries  have  always  been  able  to  avoid  her  blows. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  81 

The  strength  of  this  vessel,  as  the  engagements  at 
Hampton  have  demonstrated,  consisted  chiefly  in  the 
resistance  which  her  armor  opposed  to  the  enemy's 
fire,  and  which  permitted  her,  without  fear,  to  moor 
herself  with  broadside  presented,  at  short  range.  She 
confronted  thus  three  complete  broadsides  of  the 
Cumberland,  a  sustained  fire  from  the  Congress  at 
short  distance,  and  another  of  the  Monitor.  This  last 
succeeded  only  in  inflicting  upon  her  an  injury  in 
front,  which  caused  her  to  abandon  the  struggle.  To 
supply  the  rapidity  of  movement  which  she  lacked, 
the  Merrimac  went  escorted  by  two  or  three  steamers 
and  gunboats,  performing  about  her  the  service  of 
scouts  and  sharp-shooters. 

At  a  distance,  the  heavy-looking  Merrimac,  without 
mast,  and  with  her  low  chimney,  gliding  slowly  over 
the  sea,  had  a  strange  and  monstrous  aspect,  wrhich 
struck  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  with  superstitious 
terror. 

It  is  known  that  this  vessel  was  destroyed  the  18th 
of  May,  at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Norfolk  by  the 
Federals.  The  Secessionists  not  being  willing  to  let 
her  fall  into  the  hands  of  her  former  proprietors,  and 
not  being  able  to  carry  her  away,  inasmuch  as  she 
was  then  receiving  repairs,  blew  her  up  while  evacu 
ating  the  place.  On  the  other  hand,  they  towed  to 
Richmond  the  carcass  of  another  Merrimac,  whose 
early  appearance  on  the  James  River  has  been  an 
nounced. 
4* 


82  KEPOET   TO   THE 

The  Monitor,  created  by  Captain  Ericcson,  is  of  a 
wholly  different  character.  It  was  constructed  after  a 
plan  well  considered,  and  with  the  idea  of  offering  the 
least  possible  surface  to  the  blows  of  the  enemy ;  of 
giving  to  this  exposed  surface  a  solidity  proof  against 
every  thing ;  and  of  causing  the  density  of  the  water 
to  operate  as  a  shield  for  the  most  delicate  parts. 

Entirely  answering  to  this  plan,  the  Monitor  makes 
but  little  show,  and  it  was  some  time  before  I  was 
able  to  discover  her  at  Hampton  Roads,  in  the  midst 
of  the  vessels  of  every  dimension  confided  to  her  pro 
tection. 

Upon  the  whole,  this  vessel  is  a  raft,  like  a  body  on 
a  level  with  the  water,  under  which  is  found  a  hull, 
less  long  and  less  wide,  enclosing  the  machinery,  and 
with  the  spiral  line  of  the  hull,  the  anchor,  and  the 
helm  all  below.  On  the  raft  is  raised  a  tower,  shel 
tering  two  Dahlgren  camion  of  two  hundred  pounds 
each.  The  tower  can  be  moved  on  a  circular  frame 
work,  and  this  movement  is  directed  from  the  interior 
of  the  tower.  By  this  means  the  cannon,  while  re 
maining  all  the  while  under  cover,  can  be  brought  to 
bear  in  every  direction  of  the  horizon. 

The  raft  has  a  length  of  about  one  hundred  and 
seventy  feet  by  a  width  of  forty,  and  a  depth  of  five, 
of  which  three  and  a  half  are  under  water.  Her  water- 
line  is  elliptical. 

The  lower  hull  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  in  length,  thirty-five  in  width,  and  seven  in  depth. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  83 

It  is  perceived  then  that  she  is  curtailed  at  the  points 
of  the  ellipse  by  fifty  feet,  and  on  the  sides  by  five 
feet,  on  the  full  length  of  the  raft.  These  two  parts 
are  of  oak,  covered  with  sheets  and  plates  of  iron. 
The  tower,  wholly  of  iron,  is  nine  feet  high  by  twenty 
in  diameter,  and  presents  a  thickness  of  metal  of  nine 
inches,  in  eight  concentric  walls.  The  two  ports 
are  three  feet  above  the  deck.  Her  mechanism  for 
effecting  the  rotation  of  the  tower  is  very  ingenious, 
but  would  demand,  in  order  to  give  a  complete  idea 
of  it,  a  detailed  description  with  drawings,  which  I 
have  not  the  means  of  presenting  here.  Two  men 
alone  suffice  to  handle  the  guns.  The  smoke  escapes 
by  traps  in  the  roof  of  the  tower,  and  also  by  means 
of  a  ventilating  apparatus  which  conducts  it  to  other 
grated  traps  under  the  deck.  Apart  from  the  tower, 
the  raft  offers  no  other  prominent  point  except  the 
pilot-house,  also  of  iron,  which  rises  twelve  inches  above 
the  deck,  and  has  inclined  sides.  Holes,  covered  with 
glass,  allow  the  pilot  to  direct  the  vessel,  while  being 
fully  under  cover. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  this  battery  is  theoretically 
adapted  to  its  object ;  its  delicate  portions  are  covered 
by  a  great  thickness  of  water,  and  its  exterior  portions, 
of  small  surface,  strongly  protected,  and  circular,  of 
fer  little  hold  for  the  action  of  the  projectiles.  Prac 
tical  experiment  corroborated  these  calculations  of 
theory.  In  the  combat  of  the  7th  of  March  the  two 
guns  of  the  Monitor  contended  for  two  hours  against 


84  REPORT   TO   THE 

the  ten  of  the  Merrimac,  without  other  damage  than 
a  blow  at  the  look-out  of  the  pilot-house.  Several 
times  did  the  Monitor,  manoeuvring  with  ease,  avoid, 
without  ceasing  her  fire,  the  charges  of  the  ram  of  her 
antagonist. 

Since  then  the  Monitor  has  not  been  engaged  but 
once,  against  Fort  Darling,  below  Richmond,  and  it 
wras  admitted  that  she  required  still  some  improve 
ments,  among  others  the  following : 

1st.  The  arrangement  of  the  guns  in  the  tower  does 
not  permit  a  sufficient  inclination  of  range ; 

2d.  Her  slight  elevation  above  the  water-line  causes 
it  to  be  doubted  whether  she  can  bear  the  open  sea. 
Room  would  also  fail  her  for  supplies  for  a  long  voyage  ; 

3d.  The  tower  has  the  ordinary  inconvenience  of 
casemates ;  the  smoke,  and  especially  the  heat,  are  not 
dissipated  there  with  sufficient  readiness,  and  soon 
become  very  annoying  to  the  gunners. 

These  observations,  the  first  two  in  particular,  will 
appear  the  better  founded,  as  Captain  Ericcson  had 
not  had  the  intention  of  making  the  Monitor  any  thing 
else  than  a  coast  battery,  designed  originally,  during 
the  incident  of  the  Trent,  to  defend  the  entrance  to 
the  harbor  of  New  York.  The  constructor  having 
afterwards  solicited  the  opportunity  of  proving  his 
battery  against  the  enemy,  she  was  sent  in  haste  to 
Fortress  Monroe,  when  the  real  existence  and  the 
approaching  sortie  of  the  Merrimac  were  learned.  The 
guns  which  were  used  in  the  fight  were  not  of  the 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  85 

intended  calibre ;  and  Commodore  Dahlgren  thinks 
that  if  his  gun,  of  large  calibre,  had  been  in  action, 
the  Merrimac  would  have  been  pierced  and  sunk. 

The  light  of  the  7th  of  March  produced  a  great  sen 
sation  in  the  United  States.  The  two  vessels  engaged 
in  the  tilt,  which  until  then  had  been  considered  as 
chimerical  constructions,  and  on  which  many  a  jester 
had  exercised  his  wit,  were  surrounded  with  respect, 
and  on  all  sides  mechanicians,  ship-owners,  and  en 
gineers  put  themselves  to  work  to  create  and  improve 
vessels  of  this  kind.  They  used  old  vessels  which  they 
improved ;  they  constructed  new  ones ;  they  invented 
others,  of  forms  more  and  more  odd ;  and  to-day  the 
navy  of  the  United  States  possesses  a  whole  fleet  of 
these  formidable  engines.  The  Naugatuck  and  the 
Galena  were  the  first  to  join  the  Monitor  in  the  James 
River.  The  waters  of  the  Mississippi  bear  also  a  fleet 
of  them,  and,  very  recently,  the  Secessionists  have  put 
one  afloat,  the  Arkansas,  which  made  her  debut  in 
passing  by  force  the  Federal  gunboats,  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  defences  of  Yicksburg. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  recognize,  that  these  so 
improved  products  of  the  mechanic  arts  bear  in  them 
defects,  arising  from  their  very  excellencies.  The 
smallest  error  in  time,  a  slight  accident  to  the  ma 
chinery,  is  sufficient,  sometimes,  to  paralyze  the  action 
of  an  immense  force,  and  to  cause  disappointments 
which  are  so  much  the  more  lively  as  the  hopes  ex- 
'ited  have  been  great.  It  is  thus  that,  at  the  attack 


OO  REPORT    TO    THE 

on  Fort  Darling,  the  15th  of  May,  the  Federal  flo 
tilla  was  unable  to  obtain  any  result.  The  Galena, 
which  had  been  grounded  in  ascending  the  James 
River,  had  to  be  lightened,  and  was  soon  deficient  in 
munitions.  The  Nattgatuck  saw  her  hundred-pound 
gun  burst  at  the  first  fire ;  and  the  Monitor  had  to  re 
main  at  long  range  to  get  her  angle  of  aim. 

At  the  same  time  that  it  was  sought  to  appropriate 
these  new  means  of  destruction,  each  party  aimed  with 
not  less  eagerness  at  obtaining  the  corresponding  means 
of  preservation.  After  the  poison,  the  antidote  ;  after 
the  projectile,  the  plate :  thus  is  the  career  of  inven 
tion  pursued.  This  second  search  is  also  not  less 
interesting  than  the  other. 

I  give  below  the  facts  of  the  contest  which  I  have 
heard  the  most  appreciated,  in  view  of  new  combats 
between  the  Merrimac  and  the  Monitor. 

Against  the  Merrimac,  the  North  proposed  to  em 
ploy  the  shock,  as  being  the  most  effectual  mode  of 
action.  Certain  enormous  steamers,  of  great  swift 
ness,  and  heavily  ballasted,  amongst  others  the  Van- 
derbilt  and  the  Constitution,  were  to  rush,  under  a 
full  head  of  steam,  upon  the  Merrimac.  The  latter, 
less  capable  of  moving,  could  not  avoid  the  shock  of 
one  of  these  steamers,  and,  according  to  the  calcula 
tions  and  the  laws  of  dynamics,  would  necessarily  be 
sunk.  With  this  object,  a  flotilla  of  this  naval  cavalry 
was  for  a  long  while  in  station  below  Fortress  Mon 
roe,  always  under  steam.  While  it  should  have  pre- 


SWISS   MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  87 

pared  and  executed  its  charges,  the  Merrimac  would 
have  been  entertained  by  the  tire  of  the  Monitor  and 
other  armored  vessels. 

Great  success  was  not  expected  from  boarding, 
considering  the  difficulty  of  throwing  men  on  the 
inclined  sides  of  the  armor,  who,  besides,  could  be 
driven  back  by  jets  of  boiling  wTater  and  steam. 

Against  the  Monitor,  I  have  heard  it  said  that  the 
seamen  of  the  South  thought,  amongst  others,  of  three 
means,  which  appear  in  fact  susceptible  of  some  effi 
ciency. 

They  would  attempt  to  board  her,  and  bold  men 
would  throw  shell  into  the  tower  through  the  ports. 
But  the  Monitor  put  herself  on  guard  against  this 
danger  by  the  arrangement  of  pumps  of  boiling  w^ater 
discharging  at  the  ports. 

Or,  they  would  open  the  deck  and  sink  her,  by  a 
bomb-shot  of  heavy  calibre,  and  as  vertical  as  possi 
ble.  But  such  a  shot  it  is  difficult  to  make. 

Or,  to  capture  her  with  a  chain, — to  throw  it  in  the 
manner  of  a  lasso  around  the  tower,  and  to  ground 
her  on  the  coast. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  these  different  means,  suffi" 
ciently  curious,  of  contest,  cannot,  perhaps,  be  put  to 
the  proof,  in  new  actions  between  these  same  two  ves 
sels.  But  they  will  be  so,  without  doubt,  in  others, 
under  conditions  very  similar. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  navy  of  the  United  States, 
whether  it  be  by  its  creations  or  by  its  operations,  has 


88  REPORT   TO   THE 

acquired,  and  is  acquiring  still,  tlie  greatest  honor  in 
this  war.  It  may  well  console  her  for  the  disappoint 
ments  which  the  land  army  has  experienced. 

The  blockade  of  so  great  an  extent  of  coast,  a 
blockade  which,  whatever  may  be  said  of  it,  is  as 
real  and  as  effective  as  a  blockade  has  ever  been, 
testifies  the  power  and  the  vigilance  of  the  Federal 
fleet. 

The  actions  of  Fort  Pulaski,  of  Forts  Donelson 
and  Henry,  of  Port  Royal,  of  Hampton,  of  Vicks- 
burg,  of  ~New  Orleans,  and  of  other  points  of  the 
Mississippi ;  also  of  Pittsburg  Landing,  and  of  Har 
rison's  Landing,  show  what  resources  of  energy,  of 
precision,  and  of  intrepidity,  there  are  among  these 
brave  seamen. 

In  fine,  the  frequent  transportation  of  troops,  suc 
cessfully  effected  at  the  distance  of  hundreds  of 
leagues  along  the  coast,  the  embarkation  and  disem 
barkation  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  of  those  of 
Burnside,  Butler,  and  Sherman,  with  all  their  sup 
plies  and  materiel  of  the  heaviest  calibre,  prove  that 
the  most  difficult  and  extensive  operations  can  be 
seriously  undertaken  by  an  army,  as  well  as  seconded 
on  all  the  navigable  waters. 

At  this  time  an  entire  fleet   of  vessels,  identical, 
with  the  Monitor,  is  in  course  of  construction  in  the 
various  ship-yards  of  the  North,  without  reckoning  a 
great  number  of  others  on  different  models/*     When 

*  Amongst  other  variations  from  the  system  of  Capt.  Ericcson,  is 


SWISS   MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  89 

these  different  vessels  shall  liave  taken  the  sea,  that  is 
to  say,  in  a  few  months  only,  the  United  States  will 
possess,  for  the  moment,  the  greatest  military  naval 
force  in  the  world,  and  will  be  able  to  exercise  sover 
eign  control  over  their  waters.  I  have  it  from  a  very 
experienced  and  impartial  seaman,  that  the  famous 
Warrior,  or  her  rival  La  Gloire,  would  find  them 
selves  at  a  disadvantage  against  a  single  Monitor^  In 
return,  those  vessels  are  more  suitable,  it  is  true,  for 
distant  navigation. 

In  the  course  of  this  year,  nine  new  Monitors,  con 
structed  under  the  direction  of  Capt.  Ericcson,  ought 
to  be  launched,  to  wit:  the  Montauk,  the  Catskill, 
and  the  Passaic,  in  course  of  construction  at  Green 
Point,  New  York ;  the  Sangamon  and  Lehigh,  in  con 
struction  at  Chester,  Pennsylvania ;  the  Nantucket 
and  the  Nahant,  in  construction  at  Boston ;  the  Wee- 
hawken,  in  construction  at  Jersey  City ;  and  the  Pa- 
tapsco,  in  construction  at  Wilmington,  Delaware. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1863,  the  mili 
tary  marine  of  the  North  should  reckon  fifty  mailed 
vessels,  on  different  systems  and  of  different  strength. 

The  South,  really  very  inferior  in  this  respect,  and 
everywhere  closely  blockaded  in  her  ports,  is  also 
making  great  efforts  to  establish  for  herself  a  navy. 

mentioned  the  system  of  Whitney,  of  which  a  specimen,  the  Keokuk, 
is  at  this  time  being  built  at  New  York.  As  capable  of  resistance  as 
the  Monitors,  it  will  be  lighter,  inasmuch  as  wood  enters,  for  a  great 
part,  into  its  construction,  and  be  more  manageable.  It  will  have  a 
speed  of  ten  knots  an  hour. 


90  REPORT   TO   THE 

It  is  said  that  two  new  Merrimacs  are  already  in  ad 
vanced  construction  at  Richmond,  and  that  they 
ought  soon  to  make  their  appearance  in  the  waters  of 
the  James  River.  Another  is  expected  to  contribute 
to  the  defence  of  Vicksburg,  on  the  Mississippi.  Oth 
ers  are  in  construction  at  Charleston,  and  still  others 
are  receiving  their  armament  in  England,  designed 
to  give  chase  to  the  commercial  vessels  of  the  North. 


IX. 


SOME  PERSONAL  IMPRESSIONS   IN  REGARD  TO  THE  AMERI 
CAN    AND    SWISS    ARMIES. 

I  shall  now  take  the  liberty,  in  terminating  this  re 
port,  to  sum  up,  under  the  form  of  observations  or 
desiderata,  some  of  my  personal  impressions  on  the 
defects  of  the  American  Federal  Army,  and  then  to 
indicate  some  comparisons  which  I  could  hardly  pre 
vent  myself  from  making  between  that  army  and  our 
own. 

The  two  armies  have,  indeed,  in  many  respects,  a 
great  resemblance,  and  are  a  little  deficient,  it  is  neces 
sary  to  avow,  in  the  same  particulars.  They  are  both 
more  or  less  composed  of  armed  militia  of  confeder 
ated  States,  of  citizen  soldiers  accustomed  to  liberty, 
embarrassed  with  civil  business  as  well  as  family 
cares,  and  living  under  republican  governments. 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  91 

Owing  to  a  great  number  of  causes,  but  particularly 
to  the  trad:tions  of  the  middle  ages,  to  engaging  in 
foreign  services,  and  to  a  permanent  danger,  resulting 
from  disagreeable  and  too  powerful  neighbors,  Swit 
zerland  possesses,  if  not  a  strength,  at  least  a  military 
spirit  substantial  and  active,  a  sentiment  completely 
unknowTii  hitherto  to  Americans,  who  have  prided 
themselves  rather  in  not  being  military  in  any  thing. 
But  apart  from  this  fact,  there  are,  unfortunately,  too 
many  defects  common  to  the  two  countries,  and  to  the 
two  armies. 

As  to  what  concerns  the  American  Federal  Army, 
the  principal  causes  of  inferiority  are,  in  my  opinion, 
the  following : 

1st.  From  lack  of  authority  in  the  generals,  in  con 
sequence  of  the  exigencies  and  the  vices  of  democratic 
institutions,  which  protect  all  the  restraints  upon  the 
vigorous  and  wise  conduct  of  the  war, — intrigues  of 
parties  in  the  government  and  about  it;  excessive 
personal  ambition ;  sordid  flattery  of  the  soldier- 
voters  ;  the  systematic  aspersion  or  commendation  by 
the  press,  of  the  several  generals,  according  to  the 
party  to  which  they  belong ;  exaggerated  fears  on  the 
part  of  the  government  of  seeing  the  rise  of  future 
military  dictators;  the  superabundance  of  clubs,  of 
journals,  of  tribunes,  which,  without  wishing  it,  fur 
nish  valuable  information  to  the  enemy,  and  facilitate, 
in  a  singular  manner,  the  business  of  spies.* 

*  Without  wishing  to  replace  the  liberal  system  of  government  of 


92  REPORT    TO    THE 

2d.  The  defective  mode  of  forming  the  army.  The 
system  of  voluntary  recruiting  by  the  inducements  of 
the  pay,  or  by  the  stimulation  of  political  passions, 
furnishes  a  great  number  of  individuals  more  or  less 
depraved,  or  inept  for  the  valuable  service  of  the  field, 
but  who  are  admitted,  to  make  up  the  number. 
The  rest  of  the  nation,  thinking  they  are  doing 
enough  in  aiding  to  raise  pay  for  these  mercenaries, 
find  themselves  too  little  interested  in  events,  do  not 
feel  sufficiently  their  burden,  and  do  not  take  in  the 
war  an  interest  as  serious  as  the  circumstances  would 
demand.  In  the  great  cities,  at  JSTew  York,  Philadel 
phia,  Boston,  and  even  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  at 
Washington,  amusements  go  on  as  in  time  of  entire 
peace ; — they  dance,  they  dine,  carry  on  festivities, 
boast  loudly,  and,  what  is  more  serious,  they  know 

the  United  States  by  a  despotic  regime,  it  might  yet  be  required  in  time 
of  war,  that  military  exigencies  should  be  more  seriously  regarded, 
and  that  the  very  object  of  the  war  should  not  be  rendered  more  diffi 
cult,  if  not  even  impossible  to  be  attained,  by  an  exaggerated  political 
dodrinarianism,  which  consists  in  wishing  to  respect  every  institution, 
and  every  individual  right,  created  for  times  of  peace.  I  could  cite 
here,  with  advantage,  the  example  of  Switzerland,  as  jealous,  certainly, 
of  its  democratic  prerogatives  as  are  the  United  States.  In  1 847,  at  the 
time  of  the  campaign  of  the  Sunderbund,  General  Du  Four.  Commander- 
in-chief  of  the  Federal  army,  began  by  demanding  of  the  journals  an 
entire  abstinence  from  remarks  on  the  subject  of  military  affairs. 
Through  the  medium  of  the  diet  and  the  cantonal  governments,  the 
press  was  seriously  invited  to  be  silent  on  the  events  of  the  campaign, 
and  not  to  reproduce  any  thing  but  official  acts  which  should  be  trans 
mitted  to  it  by  the  governments,  publishing  bulletins  for  this  purpose. 
The  army  and  the  country  found  the  advantage  of  this  measure,  which 
could  be  put  in  execution  in  the  United  States  as  easily  as  in  Switzer 
land. 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  93 

not  how  to  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  the  country  in  dan 
ger,  any  rancor,  or  any  political  purpose.  The  con 
test  of  parties  and  of  cliques  pursues  its  ordinary 
course,  and  even  more  intensely  than  in  ordinary; 
many  a  Republican  abolitionist  of  the  North  rejoices 
more  over  the  reverses  of  a  Democratic  general,  of  Mc- 
Clellan,  for  example,  than  over  his  success.  The  De 
mocrats  do  the  same  in  regard  to  the  abolition  generals, 
as,  for  example,  Fremont.  If  the  army  were  recruited 
by  conscription,  or  if  each  citizen,  subject  to  service, 
were  held  to  military  duty,  as  in  Switzerland,  the 
various  classes  of  society  would  be  more  equally  and 
more  directly  identified  with  the  war,  and  would 
better  comprehend  the  necessity  of  the  sacrifices 
which  it  demands. 

3d.  The  mode  of  recruiting  furnishes  a  great  num 
ber  of  bad  officers,  having  sometimes  no  other  title  to 
their  commissions  than  having  known  how  to  entice  a 
few  recruits  to  inns  or  clubs.  It  is  particularly  inju 
rious  when  that  happens,  as  it  too  often  does,  alas ! 
in  regard  to  the  positions  of  the  superior  officers. 
For  two  good  officers  taken  thus  from  the  ranks  of  the 
orators,  or  from  the  magistracy,  there  are  five  or  six 
of  them  completely  incapable  in  the  face  of  the  enemy. 
Being  from  that  time  let  into  the  secret  that  military 
knowledge  is  not  the  first  condition  to  obtain  an  offi 
cer's  commission,  every  influence  is  brought  to  bear  to 
effect  the  nominations.  The  ties  of  relationship,  of 
friendship,  of  party,  considerations  of  speculation 


94:  REPORT    TO    THE 

even,  cause  to  be  named  for  very  important  posi 
tions  men  totally  incapable  of  filling  them.  When 
that  happens  in  the  staffs,  where  the  service,  necessa 
rily  indeterminate  and  not  susceptible  of  being  regu 
lated  as  in  regiments,  does  not  betray  the  incapacity 
of  the  officer  until  after  the  act,  the  hurtful  conse 
quences  which  may  ensue  may  be  easily  understood. 
I  do  not  wish  to  cite  here  proper  names,  for  that 
would  not  serve  my  end ;  but  it  would  be  easy  for  me 
to  prove  what  I  advance,  by  facts  too  palpable.  I 
should  add  that,  owing  to  the  intrigues  of  parties, 
and  the  compliance  of  the  press,  it  is  often  difficult 
for  the  public,  even  for  the  Government  and  the 
superior  officers,  to  ascertain  whether  such  an  officer 
is  a  pretender,  an  adroit  actor,  or  a  man  of  merit. 
The  conscription  would  give  better  men  for  the 
troops,  and  would  allow  a  choice  exclusively  military 
for  the  officers. 

4th.  This  state  of  things  has  still  a  bad  conse 
quence  :  it  is,  that  the  officers  of  the  same  corps, 
divided  often  by  politics,  have  not  always  the  moral 
confidence  which  they  ought  to  have  in  one  another. 
That  state  of  things  presenting  itself  in  the  staffs, 
generals  are  seen  to  distrust  their  own  aides-de-camp, 
and  the  latter  to  distrust  one  another ;  wrhence  a  sys 
tem  of  petty  mysteries,  very  injurious  to  the  service. 
It  may  be  said  that,  owing  to  this  cause,  added  to 
others,  there  does  not  exist  a  staff  really  organized. 
Thus  marches  and  operations  are  too  often  made  in 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  95 

almost  complete  ignorance  of  the  movements  and  of 
the  strength  of  the  enemy,  or  much  too  slowly. 

5th.  The  regiments  are  too  numerous,  and  too  weak 
in  effective  force — a  defect  proceeding  from  specula 
tion,  and  from  the  mercantile  spirit  mingling  in  the 
matter  of  the  recruiting.  To  obtain  recruits,  recruit 
ing  officers  are  necessary;  and  to  dispose  of  the 
latter,  there  must  be  numerous  corps.  It  is  not  only 
a  great  expense,  involving  a  pure  loss  of  superior 
officers,  and  of  staffs  of  regiments,  but  also  a  waste  of 
men  taken  from  subaltern  functions,  where  they 
could  be  more  useful.  In  consequence  of  the  same 
principle,  or  rather  of  the  same  abuse,  there  are  (will 
it  be  believed  ?)  no  depots  for  regiments !  When 
reinforcements  are  needed,  new  regiments  are  ordina 
rily  raised  ;  and  thus  they  have  always  either  entirely 
conscripts  or  decimated  veterans.  How  much  more 
advantageous  would  it  not  be  in  all  respects  to  intro 
duce,  on  the  other  hand,  the  new  recruits  into  the 
fractions  of  the  regiments  which  have  already  had  ex 
perience  !  But  there  would  be  fewer  places  for 
officers  to  bestow,  fewer  favors  to  be  distributed,  less 
aliment  for  political  intrigue  !  That  would  not  be 
the  interest  of  the  greater  number,  and,  unfortunately, 
men  of  mark  also,  thirsting  for  popularity,  conform 
their  sentiments  to  those  of  the  multitude. 

6th.  The  corps,  like  the  staffs,  have  far  too  much 
baggage.  The  punishment  is  often  produced,  without 
doubt,  in  the  fact  that  it  is  left  on  the  way ;  but 


96  REPORT   TO    THE 

there  ought  to  be  a  general  rule  to  reduce  it  in  a 
uniform  manner  for  the  success  of  operations,  often 
shackled  by  this  immense  train  of  impedimenta. 
There  are  regiments  of  infantry  of  600  or  700  men, 
which  draw  after  them  as  many  as  twenty  wagons. 
The  staff  alone  of  General  McClellan  had  not  less 
than  thirty  wagons.  Some  contained,  it  is  a  fact,  arm 
chairs,  beds,  and  a  crowd  of  useless  articles.  I  hasten 
to  add,  that  the  honorable  general  did  not  require  so 
many  for  himself,  and  that  he  gave,  on  the  contrary, 
in  his  whole  person,  the  example  of  a  modesty  and  a 
severity  unfortunately  little  followed. 

7th.  The  military  zeal  of  the  army  is  not  excited 
by  any  advantage  proportioned  to  the  dangers.  No 
honorable  distinctions,  no  decorations  or  pensions,  not 
even  retiring  pensions,  are  assured  to  the  wounded,  or 
to  the  widows  and  orphans."*  Then  the  music  is 
wretched ;  the  uniforms  gloomy ;  no  distribution  of 
brandy ;  and  a  severe  prohibition  against  making 
booty.  There  is  only  patriotism  and  the  pay  to 
stimulate  the  boldness  of  the  combatants.  But  this 
is  not  enough  in  the  present  case  to  lead  men  reso- 

*  A  pension  law  has  always  existed  for  the  American  army.  Many 
have  been  enacted  at  different  times,  the  most  recent  being  the  "  Act 
of  Congress  approved  July  14th,  1862."  Appropriations  for  "  Medals 
of  Honor,"  to  be  given  to  "those  who  distinguish  themselves  in  ac 
tion,"  have  been  authorized  by  the  "  Resolution  of  July  12th,  18G2," 
and  the  "Act  approved,  March  3d,  1862." 

Appointments  to  the  vacancies  in  the  regular  army  are  made  only 
from  the  graduates  of  West  Point,  and  the  distinguished  regular  non 
commissioned  officers  and  privates. — TRANSLATOR. 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  97 

lutely  to  death.  As  for  the  pay,  that  is  gained 
in  advance,  and  if  one  is  thrown  out  of  service, 
the  pay  is  lost  for  himself  and  his  heirs.  As  to 
patriotism,  it  is  that  of  a  civil  war,  and  the  sad 
struggle  of  the  parties  which  we  have  mentioned  in 
the  very  camp  of  the  North,  blunts,  or  gives  it  a  false 
direction.  If  it  has  its  moments  of  dash,  it  has  more 
often  still  its  fainting-fits. 

8th.  The  very  organization  of  the  discipline  is 
fundamentally  defective,  in  that  it  transfers  too  much 
to  the  military  service,  where  obedience  above  every 
thing  ought  to  reign,  the  individual  privileges  of  the 
citizen,  who  prides  himself  essentially  on  being  free. 
Courts  of  inquiry  and  courts-martial,  for  example, 
are  multiplied  to  infinity,  diverting,  at  every  turn,  a 
good  number  of  soldiers  from  active  service,  with 
out  aiming,  most  frequently,  at  any  result.  Veri 
table  lawsuits,  bristling  with  incidents  of  every  kind, 
are  always  pending  by  the  dozen  in  each  division, 
in  which  the  question,  in  the  greater  part  of  the 
European  armies,  would  be  one  of  the  simple  com 
petence  of  superior  or  general  officers.  Heaps  of 
pamphlets,  besides,  result  from  them,  which  there  is 
a  custom  of  sending  to  all  the  corps,  and  the  trans 
portation  and  dispatch  of  which  by  the  officers,  is 
done  sometimes  to  the  detriment  of  important  busi 
ness. 

The  officers  have  too  little  the  habit  of  using  their 
disciplinary  powder,  and  make  too  many  concessions  to 
5 


98  REPORT   TO    THE 

the  whims  of  the  soldiers.  There  are  many  provosts 
charged  specially  with  the  police,  but  they  have  no 
armed  police  or  special  corps  under  their  orders,  and 
the  surveillance  is  very  difficult.  The  abuse,  or 
fraudulent  use  of  leaves  of  absence  is  not  either  suf 
ficiently  prevented,  or  severely  enough  punished. 
A  troop  which  is  near  the  great  centres  of  population, 
and  to  railroads,  and  which  does  not  believe  the 
situation  critical,  has  often  even  a  third  part  of  its 
effective  force  absent,  by  abuse  of  leave  or  without 
leave,  some  on  parties  of  pleasure,  others  on  clandes 
tine  visits  to  their  families. 

This  same  spirit  of  individual  independence,  so 
laudable  in  civil  life,  but  whose  excess  is  so  fatal  to 
military  discipline,  is  found  in  every  thing,  and  at  all 
times.  In  the  cabinet  of  the  generals,  and  in  the 
matter  of  the  operations,  it  introduces  itself  into  dis 
cussions,  conferences,  too  frequent  councils  of  war, 
and  assumes  the  initiative  and  the  decision  of  the  re 
sponsible  chief.  The  orders  have  not  habitually  the 
character  of  precision  and  of  authority  which  they 
ought  to  have  ;  one  does  not  perceive  in  them  suffi 
ciently  the  nerve  of  command ;  they  are  often  also 
followed,  in  place  'of  execution,  by  replies,  by  observa 
tions,  and  sometimes  even  by  protestations  on  the 
part  of  the  officer  who  receives  them.  The  official 
instructions  and  orders  might  be  taken  for  diplomatic 
notes.  They  negotiate,  much  more  than  order  and 
obey.  Upon  the  whole,  they  do  not  sufficiently 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  99 

believe  in  the  rights  of  superior  authority,  and  in  the 
fact  that  a  penal  military  code  can  be  seriously 
applied.  It  will  be  so,  probably,  so  long  as  there 
shall  not  have  been  made  some  examples  of  the 
guilty  in  high  places. 

9th.  Finally,  the  North  is  still  affected  by  a  cause  of 
inferiority  in  a  certain  peculiarity  of  its  strategic  check 
erboard  ;  its  Capital,  Washington,  the  capital  of  the 
Union,  which  it  wishes  to  restore,  is  located  on  the 
very  frontier ;  and  the  care  and  the  defence  of  this 
important  and  eccentric  point  attach  to  it  great, 
very  great  considerations  of  preference. 

This  city  is,  in  fact,  so  well  covered  against  Yir- 
ginia  by  the  Potomac, — here  about  three-quarters  of 
a  league  wide,  and  accessible  to  the  Federal  gunboats, 
— that  it  is  in  as  great  safety  as  if  it  wrere  ten  leagues 
in  the  interior,  and  is  not  really  threatened  ex 
cept  on  the  side  of  Harper's  Ferry.  It  is,  then,  be 
hind  this  last  point  that  there  ought  to  have  been 
constructed  a  great  intrenched  camp.  It  would  have 
served  to  flank  the  capital,  to  watch  the  passages  of 
the  Potomac,  and  to  keep  the  army  in  a  central  posi 
tion,  whence  it  might  be  able  to  debouch  at  pleasure, 
in  front  by  the  Shenandoah,  to  the  right  by  Western 
Virginia,  or  to  the  left  by  Washington.  In  place  of 
that,  the  capital  has  been  made  the  military  centre ; 
it  has  been  surrounded  by  an  immense  belt  of  works 
on  both  banks  of  the  river,  extending  even  beyond 
Alexandria,  works,  the  guard  alone  of  which  absorbs 


100  REPORT   TO   THE 

and  throws  out  of  action  a  very  considerable  number 
of  troops,  and  whence  it  is  impossible  to  debouch  by 
land  except  on  a  single  line  of  operations,  and  without 
^secrecy.  Thus,  each  time  that  the  Northern  troops 
have  been  put  en  route  from  this  point  they  have 
'been  anticipated — whether  at  Manassas,  in  the  penin 
sula  of  Yorktown,  or  in  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah, 
— by  the  concentrations  of  the  enemy. 

Nothing  proves  better  than  the  military  events 
which  have  occurred  in  Virginia  during  this  war,  how 
much  the  choice  of  a  bad  base  can  weigh  with  a  fatal 
burden  on  all  the  operations  of  the  campaign.  The 
principal  faults,  and  the  most  acute  disappointments 
of  the  Federals,  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  only 
the  natural  consequences  of  this  first  error  of  having 
taken  for  a  base  a  point  so  eccentric  as  Washington, 
and  which  ought  not  to  have  been  considered  any 
thing  but  a  good  tcte  de  pont  of  advanced  posts. 

Approaching,  now,  some  points  of  comparison  be 
tween  the  American  Federal  army  and  our  own,  I 
shall  present  eight  observations : 

1st.  The  army  of  the  United  States  asserts  the  prin 
ciple,  that  the  soldier  ought  to  be  able  to  subsist  on 
his  rations,  without  being  obliged  to  disburse  a  frac 
tion  besides.  I  believe  this  a  very  good  principle, 
and,  whether  it  be  in  regard  to  the  justice  of  the  mat 
ter  or  in  regard  to  health,  it  ought  also  to  be  prac 
tised  in  our  army.  To  maintain  the  health  of  the 
soldier,  it  is  necessary  besides,  that  his  food  be  not 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  101 

too  different  from  that  of  the  civilian.  I  think,  then, 
that  it  would  be  well  to  add  to  our  present  rations  a 
ration  of  coffee  and  of  sugar  ;  a  little  more  bread,  and 
regular  rations  of  different  vegetables,  for  the  evening 
meal.  The  porringer  of  the  soldier  should  be  of  sheet 
iron,  capable  of  withstanding  the  fire,  and  serving  in 
extremity  as  a  coffee-pot. 

2d.  If  we  should  ever  be  under  the  necessity  of 
arming  our  frontier  lakes, — as  it  was  proposed  to  do 
in  public  discussions  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  the 
Kadetzky,  and  in  the  instance  of  the  annexation  of 
Savoy  to  France, — or  should  we  only  have  to  fortify 
their  banks,  wre  ou°;ht  not  to  forget  that  vessels  of 

o  O 

wood,  and  light  walls,  can  no  longer  hold  out  against 
the  heavy  calibres  and  iron  plates  of  the  American 
system,  which  are  already  imitated  by  the  European 
powers.* 

3d.  With  a  climate  as  variable  as  ours,  it  appears 
to  me  as  urgent  here  as  it  does  everywhere  else  to 
renounce  the  bivouac,  and  to  furnish  the  troop  with  a 
tent.  I  shall  make  reference,  on  this  point,  to  the 
Report  which  I  have  already  had  the  honor  of  ad 
dressing  to  the  Swiss  Military  Department  in  August,  • 
1859,  on  my  return  from  Lombardy,  limiting  myself 

*  The  principal  States  of  Europe  have  sent  instructed  and  intelligent 
officers  to  the  United  States,  to  study  there  the  innovations  on  the 
military  domain  called  out  by  this  war.  I  am  persuaded  that,  in  many 
respects,  and  especially  in  regard  to  rifled  arms,  carbines,  and  cannon,  to 
the  armor  of  ships,  and  various  machinery,  Europe  will  bring  back 
good  fruits  from  the  experience  of  America. 


102  REPORT   TO   THE 

to  recommend  anew  its  conclusion,  that  our  elite  troops 
should,  at  least,  be  furnished  with  the  shelter  tent  on 
the  French  system.  With  the  view  of  making  this 
provision,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  advantageous  to  make 
some  experiments  with  India  rubber,  or  with  some 
impermeable  fabric,  but  of  deep  color.  The  shelter 
tent  appears  to  me  so  much  the  more  urgent  in  our 
army,  as  our  soldiers  have  not,  as  others  have,  any 
covering  for  the  ordnance. 

4th.  The  late  experience  which  I  have  had  in 
America  of  the  wants  of  the  troops  in  the  field,  have 
confirmed  me  in  the  conviction  which  I  had  already, 
after  the  Italian  war,  that  spades,  axes,  and  mattocks 
are  articles  of  the  first  necessity,  and  of  daily  use 
in  all  the  corps.  It  would,  then,  be  very  desirable 
that  means  should  be  taken  in  advance,  of  having  a 
sufficient  provision  of  those  articles,  in  case  of  our  army 
being  put  into  the  field. 

5th.  The  saddle  called  the  McClellan  saddle,  with 
the  method  of  replacing  the  pistols  and  their  holsters 
by  a  revolver  at  the  belt,  would  be  worthy  of  an  at 
tentive  consideration,  at  this  moment  particularly, 
when  this  question  is  under  discussion,  and  when  a 
new  saddle  is  proposed  for  our  cavalry.  I  should 
remark,  in  passing,  that  our  castings  complicate  the 
saddlery,  take  up  valuable  room,  load  the  horse,  and 
that  when  one  is  not  in  the  saddle,  he  finds  himself 
unarmed. 

I  much  hesitated  whether  I  should  not  bring  to 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  103 

Switzerland  a  specimen  of  the  McClellan  saddle. 
Unfortunately,  the  trouble  and  the  expense  of  trans 
portation  prevented  me, — so  much  the  more,  as,  had 
I  commenced  to  make  purchases,  there  are  many 
other  models  of  military  results  which  I  should  have 
desired  to  be  able  to  submit  to  the  Department. 

6th.  Switzerland  has  always  been  distinguished  by 
the  speciality  of  the  aim.  The  address  of  our  rifle 
men,  become  proverbial  and  justly  celebrated  through 
out  the  entire  world,  constitutes  a  notable  portion  of 
our  strength,  although  there  is  some  abuse,  perhaps, 
whether  amongst  ourselves  or  abroad,  in  regard  to  the 
real  importance  of  very  fine  marksmen  in  the  field. 
It  is,  however,  proper  not  to  allow  ourselves  to  be 
outstripped  by  other  countries,  or  at  least  not  to  have 
the  reputation  of  being  so,  and,  consequently,  to  fol 
low  the  improvements  which  are  made  elsewhere. 
America  has  much  contributed  heretofore  to  the  im 
provement  of  the  rifle.  To-day  she  has  gone  farther, 
and  has  armed  many  regiments  with  a  rifled  revolver 
of  five  shots,  of  which  I  have  heard  many  favorable 
remarks,  and  to  which  I  believe  I  should  draw  the 
attention  of  the  Department. 

I  should  be  perhaps  inclined  to  doubt  the  advan 
tages  of  this  arm  for  precision  of  aim,  the  certainty  of 
which  demands  more  calmness  than  rapidity.  But 
for  choice  battalions,  or  for  a  select  company  in  a  bat 
talion,  for  the  head  of  a  column  in  case  of  a  brisk 
attack,  or  for  a  defence  against  cavalry,  it  is  necessary 


104  EEPOET   TO   THE 

to  recognize  that  the  fire  of  a  battalion  or  company, 
being  capable  of  being  delivered  five  times  in  succes 
sion,  and  promptly  repeated,  will  certainly  be  of  great 
advantage.  At  all  events,  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
this  arm,  with  which  three  regiments  of  the  North  are 
furnished  (and  in  one,  the  Bnrdan  regiment,  is  one 
Swiss  company,  formerly  commanded  by  M.  Trepp  of 
the  Grisons,  at  present  a  major  in  the  same  corps),  has 
appeared  to  me  to  merit  being  remarked  upon,  at 
least  as  an  interesting  curiosity.  The  price  of  this 
rifle  is  from  two  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and 
sixty  francs. 

7th.  As  to  what  concerns  distinctive  marks,  what  I 
have  seen  in  America  has  not  failed  to  remind  me  of 
the  discussions  which  have  taken  place  in  Switzerland 
on  the  retention  or  the  abolition  of  the  epaulets. 
Personally,  I  was  then  in  favor  of  retaining  this  badge 
for  officers.  To-day  I  am  forced  to  recognize  the  fact 
that  the  epaulet  becomes  almost  untenable  in  the 
field.  I  doubt  whether,  in  conditions  similar  to  those 
in  which  we  found  ourselves  in  the  United  States, 
epaulets  would  have  lasted  three  weeks.  Thus, 
whatever  might  still  be  the  regulations  for  the  old 
army,  nobody  wore  them.  At  the  end  of  some  weeks, 
we  were  forced  by  the  difficulties  of  transportation 
to  diminish  our  baggage  and  appendages,  and  it  is 
probable  that,  if  epaulets  had  been  worn,  they 
would  have  been  got  rid  of  on  that  occasion.  Per 
haps  one  day  it  will  be  so  in  Switzerland !  I  am 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  105 

therefore  of  the  opinion  that  this  occurrence  should 
be  foreseen,  and  that,  if  the  discussion  on  this  point 
should  break  out  again,  we  should  think  of  proper 
insignia  for  the  war  footing,  while  keeping  the 
epaulets,  since  we  have  them,  for  the  peace  footing 
and  for  schools. 

8th.  I  have  also  experienced  that  a  certain  variety 
in  the  costume  of  the  infantry  corps,  as  is  seen  in  the 
volunteer  regiments  of  the  different  States,  does  not 
injure  the  good  style  of  a  division  or  of  a  brigade, 
and,  besides,  facilitates  the  service,  provided  that  there 
is  uniformity  within  the  regiments,  and  general  uni 
formity  of  arms  and  equipment. 

The  varieties  of  uniform  allow  a  corps,  a  wing,  a 
disposition  of  troops,  to  be  more  easily  recognized,  and 
by  their  means  one  can  more  easily  put  himself  right 
than  by  the  numbers  on  the  caps.  They  facilitate  the 
recognition  of  the  corps  after  an  engagement ;  aid  in 
the  discipline  and  the  police ;  and  contribute,  also,  to 
excite  emulation  among  the  different  corps. 

I  conclude,  hence,  that  it  is  more  hurtful  than  for 
tunate,  that  we  should  have  made  such  great  efforts 
in  Switzerland  to  arrive  at  so  complete  a  Federal 
uniformity  in  the  matter  of  dress,  and  that  the  fear  of 
oddity  should  have  engendered  an  excessive  compe 
tition  among  the  cantons  in  this  respect,  causing  us 
to  fall  into  the  contrary  excess ;  that  if  the  question 
should  again  come  under  discussion,  and  some  cantons 
should  wish  to  introduce  modifications  in  the  cos- 


106  REPORT   TO   THE 

tumes  of  their  battalions  of  infantry,  we  ought  to  be 
very  careful  how  we  prevent  them. 

For  the  special  arms,  on  the  other  hand,  instructed 
by  the  confederation,  and  by  small  cantonal  detach 
ments,  the  subject  would  possess  inconveniences,  with 
out  presenting  the  same  advantages  as  for  the  infantry 
at  the  time  of  large  concentrations  of  troops. 

Such,  Mr.  Federal  Counsellor,  is  the  information, 
and  such  are  the  observations,  which  I  have  thought 
proper  to  submit  to  you.  I  shall  be  happy  should 
you  deign  to  find  in  them  something  useful  for  our 
Swiss  soldiery ;  and  I  am  wholly  at  your  disposal,  to 
add  to  them  further  indications  which  may  be  judged 
necessary,  and  which  I  may  be  in  a  position  to  give. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Mr.  Federal  Counsellor, 
with  the  most  profound  respect, 

Your  very  obedient  and  very  devoted  servant, 
FERDINAND  LE  COMTE, 

Federal  Lieutenant-Colonel. 

LAUSA.NNE,  August  9th,  18G2. 


SWISS    MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  107 


SUPPLEMENTARY  REPORT. 


MR.  FEDERAL  COUNSELLOR  : 

I  should  add  to  the  above  report  some  supplemen-. 
tary  remarks,  drawn  from  the  important  events  which 
have  transpired  in  America  while  these  pages  were 
passing  through  the  press. 

During  the  second  half  of  the  year  1862,  the  war 
was  continued  with  a  vigor  more  and  more  marked, 
but  with  chances  so  divided,  that  matters  are  almost 
in  the  same  situation  as  at  the  opening  of  the  cam 
paign  last  spring.  If  the  North,  on  the  whole,  has 
made  some  progress  in  the  recovery  of  territory,  if 
it  has  succeeded  in  holding  some  of  the  points  con 
quered  by  its  arms,  it  has,  in  return,  lost  a  notable 
portion  of  its  prestige  and  of  its  moral  power ;  for 
this  progress  is  far  from  answering  to  the  display  of 
force,  and  to  the  importance  of  the  sacrifices  which  it 
has  been  necessary  to  make. 

Great  battles,  great  in  the  numbers  of  the  forces 
engaged,  and  in  the  losses,  if  not  by  the  combinations, 


108  EEPOET   TO   THE 

have  been  fought,  without  ever  giving  to  either  side 
great  military  results.  That  is  owing,  in  part,  to  the 
temperament  of  the  troops,  who  have  more  tenacity 
than  dash.  The  conqueror  ordinarily  becomes  wreary 
after  the  conquest,  which  prevents  him  from  giving  a 
decisive  blow.  Besides,  the  numerous  watercourses, 
and  the  accidents  of  the  ground,  almost  always  offer 
to  the  vanquished,  in  these  conditions,  a  means  of 
putting  himself  under  protection  against  a  sanguinary 
pursuit. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  recognize  the  fact  that 
the  operations  of  the  generals  of  the  South  indicate 
more  strategic  sagacity  amongst  them  than  among 
their  adversaries,  or,  at  least,  that  their  strategic  com 
binations  can  be  better  brought  to  a  successful  execu 
tion  than  can  those  of  the  generals  of  the  North.  In 
the  South,  the  country,  more  united,  inasmuch  as  it 
is  defending  its  firesides,  more  ardent  for  the  struggle, 
has  arrived,  by  the  logic  of  the  situation,  and  by  the 
community  of  inflamed  passions,  at  a  sort  of  dictator 
ship,  which  seconds  the  action  of  the  superior  officers. 
Success  in  arms  is  the  first  law.  The  North  has,  on 
the  contrary,  all  the  embarrassments  of  a  Constitution, 
and  of  a  formal  regard  for  law  to  maintain.  While 
the  South  can  order  and  require  at  need,  the  North 
must  discuss  and  negotiate. 

For  the  naval  expeditions,  and  for  the  transporta 
tion  of  the  troops  along  the  coasts,  the  North  requires 
long  parleys  with  the  constructors  of  vessels ;  and  the 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  109 

same  is  the  case  with  the  railroad  companies,  with 
the  bridge-builders,  and  with  the  furnishers  of  sub 
sistence.  These  preliminary  negotiations,  all  the  de 
lays  of  which  are  never  calculated  beforehand,  always 
hinder  the  execution  of  the  best  conceived  plans  of 
the  generals  of  the  North,  and  have  caused  the  fail 
ure,  amongst  others,  of  the  two  principal  strategic 
movements  combined  by  them  in  Virginia. 

On  this  portion  of  the  theatre  of  the  war,  by  far  the 
most  important,  matters  are  almost  in  the  same 
state  as  last  spring,  indicating,  however,  slight  ad 
vantages  on  the  side  of  the  Federals,  who  have  ad 
vanced,  altogether,  from  the  Potomac  beyond  Bull 
Run,  and  to  the  Rappahannock,  and  from  Fort  Mon 
roe  to  Yorktown,  which  they  still  hold,  although 
having  been  compelled  to  evacuate  the  greater  part 
of  the  Peninsula. 

After  the  long  battle  of  the  Seven  Days,  at  the  end 
of  June  and  the  commencement  of  July,  General 
McClellan  remained  some  time  in  his  position  on  the 
James  River,  while  they  were  discussing,  at  Wash 
ington,  the  best  mode  of  opening  the  arrested  cam 
paign,  and  of  resuming  the  offensive. 

The  first  measure,  of  a  new  levy  of  300,000  men, 
ordered  the  2d  of  July,  by  President  Lincoln  (al 
ready  mentioned  above),  was  followed  by  the  call 
of  General  Halleck  to  the  post  of  general-in-chief  of 
the  armies  of  the  Union.  That  officer  came  to  Wash 
ington  to  take  the  direction,  by  the  telegraph,  of  the 


110  REPORT  TO   THE 

numerous  armies  and  fractions  of  armies  scattered 
over  the  whole  territory  of  the  Union. 

Halleck  had  had  incontestable  successes  in  the 
West.  His  army  had  brilliantly  reconquered  Ken 
tucky  and  Tennessee;  he  had  gained  the  battle  of 
Corinth,  the  6th  and  7th  of  April ;  but  it  is  just  to 
reproach  him,  after  that,  with  having  taken  too  pas 
sive  a  position ;  with  not  knowing  how  to  entertain 
the  rebel  army  of  Beauregard ;  and  with  having, 
finally,  allowed  the  latter  to  escape,  a  great  part  of 
which,  having  arrived  at  Richmond,  was  in  time  to 
aid  the  Secessionists  on  the  Chickahominy  against 
McClellan.  If  the  latter  had  reverses,  Halleck  was  in 
some  degree  the  indirect  cause  of  them.* 

The  first  care  of  the  new  general-in-chief  was  to 
reunite  the  different  armies  operating  in  Virginia, 
and  this  idea  was  assuredly  very  laudable.  The  con 
centration  could  be  effected  in  several  ways :  either 
by  withdrawing  the  army  from  the  peninsula  of  York- 
town  to  the  front  of  Washington,  or  by  reinforcing  it. 
On  each  of  these  fronts  there  were  equally  three  lines 
of  operations  to  choose,  whether  it  were  wished  to  ad- 

*  The  author  has  naturally  fallen  into  this  error  from  the  general 
opinion  entertained  at  that  time.  It  is  now  known  that  no  reinforce 
ment  except  a  few  fragments  was  sent  to  Richmond  from  this  army, 
after  its  evacuation  of  Corinth,  which  the  wooded  and  marshy  nature 
of  the  country  rendered  it  impossible  to  prevent.  Corinth  was  occu 
pied  by  the  Federal  troops  immediately  upon  the  heels  of  the  rebels, 
who  were  as  hotly  pursued  as  the  nature  of  the  roads  and  wooden 
bridges  would  permit. 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  Ill 

vance  by  the  right,  in  front,  or  by  the  left, — that  is  to 
say,  along  the  Blue  Mountains,  by  Manassas,  and  by 
Aquia  Creek ;  or  yet,  by  York  River,  or  by  either 
bank  of  the  James  River. 

These  six  alternatives  presented  in  reality  almost 
equal  chances  of  success.  The  question  was  solely  in 
knowing  how  to  adopt  promptly  one  of  them,  and  to 
execute  it  with  vigor ;  to  carry  upon  one  of  these  lines 
a  mass  of  from  130,000  to  150,000  men,  while  leaving 
upon  the  others  detachments  sufficiently  troublesome 
to  drive  the  enemy  to  dispersion.  Upon  the  whole, 
the  best  of  these  alternatives  was  that  which  offered 
the  simplest  and  readiest  means  of  execution,  and,  in 
so  far  as  I  am  able  to  judge  of  the  matter,  I  incline  to 
believe  that  the  concentration  by  Aquia  Creek,  and 
by  land  towards  the  Rappahannock,  was  the  prefer 
able.  Unfortunately,  the  time,  that  most  precious 
element  yet  in  war,  as  in  commercial  affairs — in  which, 
however,  the  Americans  know  how  to  recognize  its 
full  value* — this  time  was  consumed  in  long  parleys, 
and  in  veritable  diplomatic  conferences  on  the  part  of 
the  North.  The  concentration  was  decided  to  be  made 
in  front,  from  "Washington  towards  the  Rappahan 
nock  and  Culpepper,  which  was  in  my  opinion  very 
wise.  General  Pope  assembled  there,  the  middle  of 

*  In  the  United  States  the  maxim,  Time  is  money,  has  passed  into 
a  proverb.  It  is  seen  inscribed  over  the  front  of  many  counting-houses, 
and  over  the  doors  of  offices.  With  more  reason  still,  should  be  put 
on  all  the  standards  of  the  staff,  as  well  as  on  the  front  of  the  office 
of  the  Minister  of  War,  the  variation :  Time  is  victory. 


112  REPORT   TO   THE 

July,  the  three  corps  of  Banks,  McDowell,  and  Sigel ; 
but  it  was  only  towards  the  middle  of  August  that 
these  forces  began  to  be  reunited  to  those  of  the  Pen 
insula,  by  the  evacuation  of  Harrison's  Landing  and 
the  re-embarkation  of  McClellan. 

The  generals  of  the  South  were  not  so  tardy  in  de 
ciding,  although  they  did  not,  any  more  than  the 
others,  act  with  all  the  celerity  possible.  Leaving 
McClellan  under  the  surveillance  of  one  portion  of 
their  forces,  they  conveyed  successively  the  rest  of 
their  army  to  the  rencounter  with  Pope.  Already,  the 
9th  of  August,  Jackson  had  checked  Banks  at  Cedar 
Mountain.  The  following  day's  engagement  took 
place  in  the  environs  of  Culpepper,  wrhere  the  Hebel 
cavalry  of  Stuart  displayed  much  boldness.  On  the 
18th,  Pope  put  himself  in  retreat ;  the  22d,  a  turning 
movement  of  Stuart  attacked  his  rear  at  Catlett's 
Station,  while  Jackson  threw  himself  out  by  the 
Blue  Mountains  as  far  as  the  environs  of  Manassas, 
where  his  sharpshooters  appeared  the  24th,  in  the 
evening. 

It  might  have  been  thought  that  General  Pope, 
who,  on  assuming  his  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  had  issued  very  eccentric  orders  of  the  day, 
in  which,  among  other  things,  he  affected  a  sovereign 
contempt  for  lines  of  retreat  and  ~ba8es  of  operations, ' 
wishing,  he  said,  to  establish  his  head-quarters  in  the 
saddle, — it  might  have  been  thought,  I  say,  that  Gen 
eral  Pope  would  not  be  much  alarmed  at  the  enter- 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  113 

prises  of  Jackson  and  Stuart  on  his  flanks  and  rear, 
which  were  more  audacious  than  really  dangerous. 
lie  was  wrong,  doubtless,  not  to  have  sufficiently 
strengthened  his  right,  and  to  have  neglected  to  oc 
cupy  the  defiles  of  the  mountains ;  but  there  was  a 
good  remedy  for  that  by  means  of  the  troops  which 
were  still  on  the  Potomac,  and  by  means  of  those 
whom  he  could  have  sent  thither  himself.  Having, 

o" 

besides,  a  second  base  at  his  disposal,  at  Aquia  Creek, 
on  the  Potomac,  where  the  corps  of  Burnside  was  then 
disembarking,  and  where  it  was  necessary  that  the 
army  of  McClellan  should  disembark,  he  had  no 
cause  for  great  uneasiness.  On  the  contrary,  he 
ought  to  have  been  rejoiced  to  see  the  enemy  offer 
ing  suddenly  such  fine  opportunities  for  his  advantage, 
manifesting  the  rash  project  of  placing  themselves,  by 
the  route  of  the  mountains,  in  the  cul-de-sac  formed 
by  the  army  of  the  Federals  on  one  side,  and  by  the 
elbow  of  the  Potomac  on  the  other.  The  prospect  of 
a  Napoleonic  victory  offered  itself  to  General  Pope, 
had  he  allowed  these  movements  to  be  developed,  and 
had  he  kept  a  little  to  the  system  of  war  and  sang 
froid,  of  which  his  proclamation  had  excited  the  hope. 
In  place  of  that,  he  thought  only  of  one  thing,  not  to 
lose  his  connection  with  Washington.  He  sacrificed 
every  thing  to  this  puerile  fear,  and  caused  the  mass  of 
his  forces  to  make  a  retrograde  movement  towards 

O 

Manassas,  thus  driving  away  the  troops  which,  having 
disembarked  at  Aquia  Creek,  desired  to  join  him,  and 


114:  EEPOKT   TO   THE 

had  marched  with  this  object  towards  the  upper  Rap- 
pahannock. 

The  27th,  28th,  29th,  and  30th  of  August  were 
employed  in  a  succession  of  engagements,  as  disorder 
ly  as  bloody,  about  Manassas  and  Centreville,  in 
which  several  corps  deported  themselves  very  bravely, 
but  in  which  it  is  impossible  to  find  amongst  the  Fed 
erals  any  directing  thought,  any  united  action,  any 
other  object  than  that  of  regaining  as  quickly  as 
possible  their  route  to  the  bridges  of  Washington, 
threatened  by  the  bold  partisans  of  Jackson  and  of 
Stewart. 

It  was  altogether  different  on  the  side  of  the  Con 
federates.  They  had  found  a  mine  of  success,  which 
they  worked  with  incredible  good  fortune  even  to  the 
last  vein.  They  had  seen,  on  the  9th  of  August, 
Pope  becoming  excessively  alarmed  at  the  movements 
on  his  right ;  they  continued  to  act  in  this  direction, 
and  found  no  reason  for  departing  from  a  system 
which  succeeded  so  well  for  them.  Four  times,  at 
intervals  of  twenty-four  hours,  they  broke  out  from 
the  mountains  on  the  army  of  Pope,  precipitating  his 
march,  deranging  his  front,  and  providing  themselves 
with  no  retreat  except  in  the  fear  which  they  inspired 
in  the  Federals  on  theirs.  In  this  way  the  latter 
were  forced  back,  still  'fighting,  even  in  sight  of  the 
Potomac,  which  they  reached  the  1st  of  September, 
still  engaging  that  very  day  in  a  very  spirited  fight 
between  Fairfax  Court  House  and  the  river. 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  115 

During  this  time  the  troops  of  McClellan,  compris 
ing  therein  the  corps  of  Burnside,  had  disembarked  at 
Aquia  Creek  ;  some  had  been  conveyed  to  Freder- 
icksburg,  and  still  held  the  Rappahannock  during  the 
fights  at  Manassas  ;  others  had  sought  to  rejoin  Pope 
towards  Bull  Kun  by  land,  and  had,  in  part,  arrived 
there ;  others  had  been  re-embarked  to  convey  them 
selves  more  in  the  rear  of  Alexandria.  From  this 
city,  to  which  McClellan  had  also  directed  himself, 
the  corps  were  thrown  out  as  rapidly  as  they  de 
barked,  towards  Centreville  and  Fairfax,  to  the  suc 
cor  of  Pope ;  and  it  was  they  which,  arriving  very 
seasonably,  sustained  the  last  efforts  of  the  retreat 
commenced  after  Cedar  Mountain. 

For  a  moment,  the  29th  of  August,  General  Mc 
Clellan  had  only  a  few  regiments  about  him  at  Alex 
andria,  and  the  government  at  Washington,  making 
complaint  against  him  for  not  having  arrived  sooner 
for  the  desired  junction,  reduced  him  officially  to  the 
sole  command  of  the  troops  immediately  in  hand, 
while  all  the  rest  were  put  under  the  command  of 
General  Pope.  But  in  three  days  the  wheel  of  for 
tune  made  a  complete  turn.  The  2d  of  September 
McClellan  was  named  commander  of  the  defences  of 
Washington,  and  as  all  the  troops  rallied  in  this  di 
rection,  he  was  re-established,  four  days  after,  at  the 
head  of  the  entire  active  force,  General  Halleck 
remaining  all  the  while  general-in-chief  of  all  the 
armies  of  the  Union.  Pope  was  immediately  sent  to 


116  REPORT   TO   THE 

Minnesota,  where  a  terrible  insurrection  of  the  Sioux 
Indians  had  broken  out. 

The  concentration  which  General  Halleck  had 
wished  to  effect  on  the  12th  of  July,  took  place  at 
length,  at  the  commencement  of  September,  under 
the  walls  of  Washington,  and  after  rude  checks. 
Some  garrisons  had  been  left  by  McClellan  in  the 
Peninsula,  amongst  others,  at  Yorktown  and  Wil- 
liamsburg, — a  very  wise  measure,  providing  for  the 
future  the  means  of  more  easily  debouching  on  Rich 
mond  in  that  direction,  in  case  they  should  wish  to 
undertake  it  anew. 

Arrived  on  the  border  of  the  Potomac,  the  Con 
federates,  under  the  general  orders  of  General  Lee, 
did  not  think  proper  to  stop  in  the  midst  of  so  line  a 
career.  They  had  two  courses  to  take  to  continue  the 
offensive,  which  they  had  so  favorably  begun.  Either 
to  carry  the  works  which  are  regarded  as  protecting 
Alexandria  and  the  bridges  of  Washington,  and  there 
capture  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Federal  army, 
hemmed  in  by  the  Potomac ;  or  to  continue  their 
manoeuvres  by  the  left,  turn  the  Unionists,  cross  the 
river  up  stream,  and  penetrate  into  Maryland.  The 
first  course,  which  would  have  been  much  the  more 
advantageous,  was  not  attempted  by  the  Secessionists, 
thus  affording  ground  for  the  observation,  already 
often  made,  that  young  troops  easily  exaggerate  the 
strength  of  the  works  of  fortification  with  which  they 
meet  in  their  movements.  The  works  on  the  heights 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  117 

of  Arlington  and  of  Alexandria,  as  little  dangerous  as 
they  might  be  to  an  enemy  possessing  the  boldness 
which  the  Confederates  had  just  shown,  produced  an 
effect  much  above  their  real  importance,  and  stopped 
short  the  Confederate  army.  Lee  judged  that  his 
troops  were  better  for  marching  and  for  pushing 
adventurous  designs  than  for  fighting  in  line  and 
in  a  manner  somewhat  regular,  as  it  would  have 
been  necessary  for  him  to  do  in  the  face  of  the  in- 
trenchmeiits.  He  preferred  the  trifling  glory  of  an 
invasion  of  Maryland  to  the  attempt,  which  might 
have  been  so  fruitful,  of  an  attack  upon  the  tete  de 
pont  of  Washington.  He  threw  himself  back  by  the 
left  towards  Harper's  Ferry,  crossed  the  Potomac  the 
4th  and  5th  of  September,  between  that  point  and 
Washington,  on  bridges  and  at  various  fords,  and  ad 
vanced  on  Frederick  City  in  Maryland.  He  thence 
threatened  Baltimore  at  the  same  time  as  the  Federal 
city,  but  he  also  left  on  his  right  the  whole  army  of 
Washington,  and,  behind  him,  several  Federal  de 
tachments  holding  the  garrison  at  Harper's  Ferry  and 
other  positions  on  the  Potomac. 

It  is  evident  that  such  a  design  could  not  have  any 
real  military  advantage,  but  the  recent  successes  of 
the  Confederates  might  well  excite  in  them  some  illu 
sions  ;  besides,  they  nattered  themselves  with  being 
able  to  bring  to  their  cause,  by  this  stroke  of  boldness, 
the  slave  State  of  Maryland,  and  with  seeing  the 
population  rise  in  their  favor.  They  were  deceived  in 


118  REPOET   TO   THE 

this  expectation,  and,  spite  of  their  gentle  treatment 
of  the  inhabitants,  the  hitter  received  the  Secession 
flag  with  a  coldness  almost  general. 

On  the  other  hand,  General  McClellan  put  himself 
in  pursuit  of  the  invaders,  or,  to  explain  myself  more 
correctly,  he  proceeded  to  encounter  them,  judging, 
without  doubt,  and  with  reason,  that  it  would  be  suf 
ficient  to  attack  this  army  with  some  degree  of  vigor 
in  front,  to  drive  it  back  on  the  Potomac,  and,  there 
engaging  it  during  the  passage  of  the  river,  the  result 
could  not  fail  to  be  decisive.  The  chances  presented 
themselves  so  much  the  more  favorably,  as  the  Federal 
garrison  at  Harper's  Ferry,  reinforced  by  the  garri 
sons  on  the  retreat  from  Winchester  and  environs, 
amounted  at  this  time  to  as  many  as  twelve  thousand 
men.  Such  a  force  ought  to  be  able  not  only  to  hold 
with  certainty  the  place,  and  prevent  the  rebels  from 
using  its  bridges,  but  also,  in  case  of  extremity,  to  de 
tach  some  thousands  of  men  against  Lee,  to  aid  in  his 
capture  or  in  his  total  defeat  when  he  should  be 
hemmed  in  by  the  Potomac. 

The  event  did  not  prove  thus,  whether  owing  to  the 
skill  of  the  Secession  generals,  to  a  little  too  much 
slowness  on  the  part  of  McClellan,  or  to  the  remark 
able  cowardice  of  the  Federal  chiefs  at  Harper's 
Ferry. 

It  was  not  till  the  10th  or  llth  of  September  that 
the  Federal  army,  disorganized  by  the  reverses  of 
Pope,  could  make  a  decided  movement  from  the  en- 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  119 

virons  of  Washington ;  and  the  five  or  six  days 
lamentably  lost  in  the  cares  which  were  indispensa 
ble,  perhaps,  for  the  material  condition  of  the  troops, 
were  used  to  good  advantage  by  Lee.  His  advanced 
guard,  under  Hill,  after  having  proceeded  as  far  as 
New  Market,  took  position  behind  Frederick,  in  the 
defiles  of  South  Mountain,  while  the  corps  of  Jackson 
carried  on  an  active  siege  against  Harper's  Ferry,  by 
both  banks  of  the  Potomac, — a  siege  which  com 
menced  on  the  morning  of  the  13th.  The  14th,  Mc- 
Clellan  chased  Hill  from  South  Mountain,  after  a 
hot  engagement,  which  took  place  within  hearing 
of  the  cannonade  of  Harper's  Ferry,  at  the  distance 
of  four  leagues.  The  Confederates  fell  back  from 
South  Mountain  in  the  direction  of  Sharpsburg,  on 
the  Antietam  creek,  followed  closely  by  the  Federals, 
and  took  position  behind  the  hills  of  Antietam  creek. 
The  17th  McClellan  resolutely  attacked  them,  and 
on  this  day  was  fought  the  severest  battle  of  the 
war.  The  circumstances  for  twenty-four  hours  had 
greatly  favored  Lee.  The  chiefs  of  the  garrison 
of  Harper's  Ferry  had  ignominiously  capitulated 
on  the  15th,  surrendering  to  Jackson  more  than  ten 
thousand  prisoners,  and  an  immense  materiel* 

*  It  is  consoling  to  mention  here  that  one  thousand  cavalry,  com 
manded  by  Captain  B.  P.  Davis,  recalled  by  this  circumstance  the  fine 
feat  of  the  sergeant  of  Minden.  Not  wishing  to  surrender  without 
trying  their  fortune  to  the  end,  they  made  a  sortie  by  Virginia, 
bravely  traversed  all  the  enemy's  lines,  ascended  the  Potomac,  and 
proceeded  to  cross  the  river  and  re-enter  Maryland  in  the  very  rear  of 
Lee ;  capturing  from  him,  besides,  a  part  of  his  baggage. 


120  REPORT   TO   THE 

"Without  losing  a  moment  in  estimating  his  booty, 
Jackson  had  parolled  the  prisoners  and  had  brought 
back  to  Lee  two  divisions,  which,  inflamed  with  success, 
were  in  the  highest  degree  useful  on  the  day  of  the 
17th.  McClellan  had  to  act  against  a  stronger  force 
than  he  had  thought ;  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  dis 
play  all  his  resources  to  succeed  only  in  gaining  the 
field  of  battle,  and  in  forcing  the  Confederates  to  re 
treat.  To  proceed  beyond  that  was  not  possible  for 
him  ;  he  had  himself  suffered  too  much.  The  day  of 
the  18th  was  given  to  the  care  of  the  killed  and 
wounded,  as  well  as  of  the  materiel^  while  it  would 
have  been  necessary,  in  order  that  the  action  of  the 
previous  day  should  be  truly  fruitful,  to  be  able  to  re 
commence  the  attack  with  fresh  vigor.  The  19th, 
Lee  quietly  recrossed  the  Potomac,  after  having  left 
about  twenty  thousand  men  in  Maryland,  and  having 
caused  his  adversaries  to  lose  still  more.  Harper's 
Ferry  was  reoccupied  by  the  Federals  the  same  day, 
and  the  river  remained  for  some  time  the  limit 
between  the  two  opposing  armies. 

About  three  or  four  weeks  were  passed  in  observa 
tion  on  the  Potomac,  enlivened  only  by  skirmishes, 
and  with  attempts  without  great  importance  on  either 
side.  The  Confederates,  however,  accomplished  a 
very  prodigy  of  boldness.  Two  thousand  men  of 
Stuart's  cavalry,  commanded  by  their  intrepid  chief 
himself,  crossed  the  Potomac  the  10th  of  October,  on 
the  extreme  right  of  the  Federal  army,  near  Wil- 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  121 

liamsport ;  advanced  into  Maryland,  and  thence  into 
Pennsylvania  as  far  as  Chambersburg,  where  they 
made  a  raid  according  to  the  most  approved  rules ; 
then  turned  to  the  southeast,  and,  making  the  com 
plete  tour  of  the  Federal  encampments,  recrossed  the 
Potomac  at  their  extreme  left,  re-entering  Virginia 
by  Edwards'  Ferry.  The  whole  was  accomplished 
with  loss  of  only  a  few  men. 

The  Unionists,  on  their  side,  usefully  employed  this 
time  in  the  organization  of  the  new  levies.  Besides 
the  three  hundred  thousand  men  under  command  at 
the  beginning  of  July,  the  President  had  secured,  on 
the  4th  of  August,  a  new  levy  of  three  hundred 
thousand  men  for  nine  months,  which  should  be  fur 
nished,  if  found  necessary,  by  a  draft,  by  lot,  or  by  a 
regulated  conscription. 

On  the  invasion  of  Maryland,  a  hundred  thousand 
men  had  been  spontaneously  put  on  foot  by  the  States 
of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  other  States  of  the 
North.* 

Until  the  recruits  could  be  organized  into  regiments 
and  disciplined,  and  the  old  regiments  filled  up  and 
reformed,  the  lost  materiel  replaced,  the  army,  in  a 
word,  restored  to  a  good  war  footing,  there  was  no 

*  From  the  beginning,  a  strong  repugnance  was  manifested  in  almost 
all  the  States  for  the  conscription.  The  greater  part  of  them,  as  also 
the  cities  and  the  various  corporations,  preferred  to  give  extraordinary 
bounties  to  volunteers.  These  bounties  amounted  to  as  much  as  three 
hundred  dollars,  in  addition  to  the  one  hundred  dollars  of  the  Govern 
ment. 

6 


122  REPORT   TO    THE 

hurry,  in  a  purely  military  point  of  view,  for  resuming 
the  offensive.  Without  doubt,  if  the  Federal  army, 
in  its  turn,  had  been  able  at  this  moment  to  throw 
promptly  a  strong  mass  on  the  communications  of  the 
Confederates,  by  Aquia  Creek  or  by  the  peninsula  of 
Yorktowii,  and  to  advance  on  Richmond,  while  the 
chief  part  of  Lee's  force  was  still  facing  the  Potomac  in 
the  valley  of  the  Shenandoah,  a  fine  operation  would 
have  been  realized,  and  without  the  loss  of  a  minute. 
I  am  not  sure  but  it  should  have  been  attempted,  and 
that  it  would  not  have  met  with  some  success.  But, 
as  has  been  seen,  plans  of  campaign  of  some  magni 
tude  are  slow  to  be  elaborated  in  the  army  of  the 
North,  and  slower  still  to  be  put  in  execution.  It  is 
probable  that  the  project  would  have  been  so  timed 
that  Lee  would  have  been  able  to  paralyze  it,  by  a 
concentration  in  front  of  the  Capital.  In  renouncing, 
therefore,  an  operation  of  this  kind,  and  declining  to 
enter  the  lists  by  the  very  front  of  the  enemy, — that 
is  to  say,  taking  the  bull  by  the  horns, — the  North 
had  nothing  better  to  do  than  to  await  the  reinforce 
ments  of  its  new  levies,  and  the  putting  in  action  of 
all  its  resources.  It  is  probably  this  view  which  de 
termined  General  McClellan  to  wait  in  expectation 
about  Harper's  Ferry.  Solicited,  in  the  mean  time, 
by  the  thousand  irresponsible  voices  of  public  opinion, 
as  also  by  the  government  at  Washington,  lie  de 
bouched  on  the  fifteenth  of  October  from  Harper's 
Ferry  to  the  Shenandoah,  moved  immediately  to  the 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  123 

left  by  the  mountains,  took  possession  of  the  defiles 
which  debouch  upon  Manassas  and  Centreville,  and, 
advancing  prudently,  established  himself  in  the  envi 
rons  of  Warrenton  near  the  end  of  October.  He 
found  himself  in  this  position  the  5th  of  November, 
when  the  Executive  power,  weary  of  the  delays  which 
it  neither  understood  nor  approved,  and  having,  I 
ought  fully  to  admit,  some  right  to  complain  of  its 
subordinate,  in  the  matter  of  a  formal  obedience  to 
orders,  replaced  him  in  his  command  by  General 
Burnside. 

It  was  not  without  a  certain  embarrassment  that 
General  Burnside,  although  he  had  hitherto  well  ac 
quitted  himself  in  the  command  of  a  corps  d'armee, 
took  in  hand  the  direction  of  the  army  of  fifteen 
divisions  which  was  unexpectedly  confided  to  him. 
He,  however,  did  his  best  to  respond  to  the  voice  of 
the  government  and  to  the  impatience  of  popular  pas 
sions.  Being  aware  he  had  strong  masses  before  him, 
which  obstructed  his  passage  by  positions  well  in 
trenched  upon  the  upper  Kappahannock  and  its  afflu 
ents,  between  Culpepper  and  Gordonsville,  he  resolved 
upon  a  strategic  movement  by  his  left,  in  order  to 
pass  the  Rappahannock  at  Fredericksburg,  which  had 
also  another  advantage,  of  bringing  him  near  enough 
to  Aquia  Creek  to  make  this  point  one  of  his  bases 
of  operations. 

Nothing  was  more  wise  than  this  plan,  which  may 
be  compared  in  some  respects  to  that  which  the  Em- 


124  REPORT  TO   THE 

peror  Napoleon  III.  employed  in  1859,  in  order  to 
cross  the  Ticino  and  penetrate  into  Lombardy.  I 
have  already  had  occasion  to  say  that  this  movement 
of  the  allies,  which  preceded  the  "battle  of  Magenta, 
had  not  all  the  desirable  celerity,  inasmuch  as,  com 
menced  the  30th  of  May,  Napoleon  brought  on  the 
field  of  battle  of  the  4th  of  June,  hardly  the  half  of 
the  disposable  forces.  But,  such  as  it  was,  this  move 
ment  was  executed  with  giant  strides  compared  with 
that  of  Burnside.  The  Union  general  threw  some 
troops  towards  Culpepper  on  the  15th  of  November, 
in  order  to  mask  the  march  of  the  rest  by  the  left ; 
the  18th  his  advanced  guard  arrived  at  Falmouth,  in 
front  of  Fredericksburg ;  and  very  soon  after  the  re 
mainder  of  his  army,  except  one  division,  left  in  ad 
vance  of  Warrenton,  and  the  corps  of  occupation  of 
"Washington  and  Alexandria,  as  a  support  in  the  rear. 
In  order  to  pass  the  Rappahannock,  bridges  were 
necessary.  Of  these  Burnside  had  not  sufficient. 
They  should  have  reached  him  from  Washington,  but 
the  trains  conveying  them  delayed  on  the  route.  It 
was  not  till  the  10th  of  December  that  he  was  able  to 
put  his  pontoniers  at  work,  and  not  till  the  13th  that 
he  was  in  readiness  to  cross  the  river !  For  three 
weeks  his  movement  had  been  unmasked,  and  it  was 
hardly  necessary  for  Lee  to  make  a  groat  effort  of 
genius  to  concentrate  himself  in  good  positions  in  the 
debouch  from  Fredericksburg,  and  to  fortify  himself 
there  with  all  ease.  Connected  with  Gordonsville 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  125 

and  Richmond  by  a  railroad,  lie  was  able  even  to 
bring  heavy  artillery  to  establish  a  good  intrenched 
camp,  ready  to  receive  the  columns  of  Burnside  when 
they  should  have  gotten  through  with  their  troubles  of 
the  bridging.  In  addition  to  this  misfortune,  the  gen 
eral  in  command  neglected  to  feel  the  enemy,  and  to 
throw  out  a  strong  reconnoissance  upon  the  right  bank, 
which  would  have  easily  shown  him  the  importance 
of  the  position  of  his  adversaries.  The  day  of  the 
13th  and  the  morning  of  the  14th  were,  it  is  true,  very 
cloudy ;  but  this  was  still  more  a  reason  for  him  to 
obtain  better  information.  The  thing  was  very  capa 
ble  of  being  realized.  It  was  dark  night,  the  17th  of 
June,  1815,  when,  before  Waterloo,  Napoleon  threw 
out  the  cavalry  of  Milhaud  upon  the  English,  to  as 
certain  whether  they  were  simply  in  bivouac  or  in 
position;  and  there  was  no  need  of  the  coup  d'ceil 
of  a  great  captain  in  order  to  judge,  after  only  five 
minutes  of  action,  that  the  adversaries  of  Milhaud 
were  solidly  established  and  intrenched. 

In  default  of  a  reconnoissance,  Burnside,  by  reason 
ing  alone,  ought  to  have  had  more  prudence.  He 
had  good  grounds  for  expecting,  in  view  of  his  forced 
delays,  and  the  little  mystery  with  which  his  move 
ment  had  been  surrounded,  to  find  before  him  concen 
trated  masses,  which  he  could  not  take  unawares. 
In  such  a  state  of  things  he  had  nothing  better  to  do 
than  to  let  his  movement  commence  and  end  there,  in 
order  to  begin  a  new  one,  whether  by  proceeding  on 


126  REPORT   TO    THE 

his  left  or  returning  by  his  right,  with  the  hope  01 
conducting  it  a  little  more  rapidly.  But  this  course 
he  did  not  judge  expedient.  It  may  be  from  the  fact 
that  he  was  mistaken  in  the  force  of  the  enemy  whom 
he  was  going  to  encounter,  or  that  when  once  his 
bridges  were  built  he  did  not  dare,  from  fear  of  the 

O  ' 

criticism  which  would,  without  doubt,  attach  itself  to 
his  marches  and  countermarches,  to  dispense  with 
their  use  and  make  a  movement  to  the  rear,  that  he 
decided  on  advancing  on  the  14th.  A  great  battle 
followed,  in  which  he  sustained  heavy  losses, — about 
15,000  men,  against  a  loss  of  from  3,000  to  4,000  only 
by  the  Secessionists.  The  16th,  Burnside  recrossed 
the  Eappahannock  without  other  misadventure,  a 
retreat  which,  in  such  circumstances,  and  against  a  se 
rious  adversary,  might  have  been  more  disastrous  than 
that  of  the  Berezina,  but  which,  owing  to  measures 
extremely  well  taken,  seconded  by  the  inaction  of  Lee, 
he  eifected  very  successfully. 

From  that  time  even  to  the  present,  all  has  been 
quiet  upon  this  portion  of  the  theatre  of  the  war. 
The  Rappahannock  separates  the  advanced  posts  of 
the  combatants,  which  reach,  with  nearly  equal  ex 
tent,  into  the  region  of  the  mountains 

During  this  time  the  forces  of  the  West,  in  Ken 
tucky,  in  Tennessee,  and  along  the  Mississippi,  did 
not  remain  inactive.  Although  the  operations  in 
these  latitudes  had  been  still  more  irregular  than  in 
the  East,  and  though  they  have  had  thus  far  only  a 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  127 

secondary  importance,  I  will  also  say  a  few  words  of 
them. 

The  opening  of  the  campaign  had  been  fortunate  for 
the  arms  of  the  North,  and  afforded  glimpses  of  bril 
liant  success.  Halleck,  well  seconded  by  his  lieuten 
ants,  Pope  and  Mitchel  among  others,  had  retaken 
complete  possession  of  Kentucky  and  of  Tennessee, 
and  had  advanced,  with  the  assistance  of  the  gunboats, 
even  into  Alabama  and  to  the  frontiers  of  South  Car 
olina.  After  him,  in  the  month  of  August,  his  suc 
cessors,  Generals  Grant,  Buell,  and  Rosecrans  had  a 
much  more  difficult  task. 

Whilst  the  Federals,  thinking  only  of  gaining 
ground  ahead,  offered  front  on  the  side  of  the  South 
and  of  the  West,  seeking,  on  the  one  hand,  to  retake 
the  basin  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  flotilla,  and,  on  the  other,  to  advance  into  Alabama, 
bands  of  rebel  guerillas  had  formed  themselves  upon 
their  rear,  and  very  soon  gravely  menaced  their  com 
munications.  These  guerillas,  grouping  themselves 
little  by  little,  had  formed  two  principal  masses: 
one  under  the  orders  of  the  Generals  Stephenson, 
Armstrong,  and  Duncan,  surrounding  Nashville,  and 
seeking  to  retake  the  capital  of  Tennessee  from  the 
Federals,  who,  happily,  had  solidly  intrenched  them 
selves  there ;  another  mass,  under  Generals  Bragg 
and  Kirby  Smith,  reinforced  by  detachments  arrived 
from  Western  Virginia,  moved  into  Kentucky  against 
the  capital  of  that  State. 


128  REPORT   TO   THE 

A  strong  party  of  rebel  cavalry,  under  the  orders 
of  General  Morgan,  hastened  with  intrepidity  between 
these  two  corps,  and  made  many  fruitful  raids  upon 
the  Federal  detachments. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  month  of  September, 
Nashville  was  very  closely  besieged  by  the  Secession 
ists,  while  Kirby  Smith  obtained,  the  30th  of  August, 
over  the  Federals  commanded  by  General  Kelson,  a 
decided  victory  at  Richmond,  in  Kentucky.  This 
victory  opened  to  Kirby  Smith  the  road  to  Frankfort, 
the  capital  of  the  State. 

General  Buell  moved  to  the  succor  of  the  Federal 
forces,  already  hemmed  in,  in  the  north  of  Kentucky, 
about  the  triangle  formed  by  the  course  of  the  Ohio, 
by  the  Louisville  and  Lexington  railroad,  and  by  the 
Lexington  and  Cincinnati  railroad. 

The  terror  was  great  throughout  all  that  country. 
The  government  of  Kentucky  evacuated  its  capital  the 
1st  of  September  in  order  to  retire  to  Louisville.  Lex 
ington,  Paris,  and  other  neighboring  cities,  were  also 
abandoned  by  the  Federals,  and  the  Secessionists  ad 
vanced  even  in  sight  of  Louisville  and  of  Cincinnati, 
threatening  to  cross  the  river  towards  these  two 
points,  and  to  invade  the  States  of  Indiana  and  Ohio. 

The  16th  and  17th  of  September  very  sharp  en 
gagements  took  place  at  Munfordsville,  where  Bragg 
captured  about  four  thousand  Federals. 

But  after  that,  Buell  having  been  able  to  reach 
Louisville  before  Bragg,  the  Secessionists  were  obliged 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  129 

to  renounce  their  object,  and  retreated  from  the  Ohio. 
They  nevertheless  maintained  a  very  bold  front,  and 
harassed  incessantly  the  Federal  flanks  by  the  inde 
fatigable  Morgan. 

Buell  was  only  able  to  effect  a  slow  pursuit,  of  very 
little  advantage.  The  8th  of  October  an  action  took 
place  at  Perry ville ;  the  llth,  another  at  Danville,  in 
which  Bragg  was  obliged  to  retreat,  but  without  suf 
fering  himself  to  be  seriously  annoyed.  He  went  to 
reinforce  in  part  the  guerillas  investing  Nashville. 

At  this  moment  General  Buell  wras  replaced  in  his 
command  by  General  Rosecrans,  who,  during  this 
time,  had  bravely  held  in  check  the  Secession  Gener 
als  Price  and  Yan  Dorn,  in  Mississippi,  and  had  had, 
among  others,  a  warm  and  successful  affair  at  luka, 
the  19th  of  September. 

In  the  first  days  of  November,  Rosecrans  succeed 
ing  in  raising  the  siege  of  Nashville,  and,  neglecting 
the  enterprises  that  Morgan  was  continuing  in  Ken 
tucky,  he  advanced  against  Bragg,  who  reunited  his 
various  corps  while  retreating,  to  the  south  of  Nash 
ville,  about  the  railroad,  and  very  nearly  half  way 
from  Chattanooga.  There  General  Bragg  prepared 
to  give  battle,  should  the  pursuit  be  continued,  and 
to  this  end  he  had  established  himself  in  an  advan 
tageous  position,  in  advance  of  the  city  of  Murfrees- 
boro',  along  the  little  Stone  Hiver. 

Many  weeks  of  preparations  were  passed  on  each 
Bide  without  important  acts  to  record,  and  it  was  not 
6* 


130  REPORT   TO   THE 

till  the  26th  of  December  that  the  action  recom 
menced.  That  very  day  the  troops  of  Kosecrans  ad 
vanced  in  the  direction  of  Murfreesboro'.  They  were 
about  forty-five  thousand  strong,  with  one  hundred 
cannon,  and  divided  into  three  principal  corps.  Bragg 
had  fifty  thousand  men.  Skirmishes  took  place  dur 
ing  several  days,  and  the  30th,  battle  was  engaged  in 
earnest.  The  Federals  had  at  first  the  advantage ; 
but  the  next  day,  the  31st,  their  right,  under  the  com 
mand  of  General  McCook,  was  completely  overthrown. 
It  lost,  besides,  near  four  thousand  prisoners  and 
thirty  cannon.  Nevertheless,  Rosecrans  held  out, 
and  showed  as  much  firmness  as  coup-cTc&il.  He 
threw  again  his  left  towards  the  right,  using  oppor 
tunely  his  artillery,  and,  night  fortunately  coming  on, 
he  avoided  a  defeat,  at  one  time  imminent. 

The  1st  and  2d  of  January  the  battle  was  renewed 
with  fury,  and  finally  declared  in  favor  of  the  Federals. 
Bragg  beat  a  retreat,  the  4th,  upon  Tullahoma,  with 
out  allowing  himself  to  be  cut  up,  and  carrying  away 
all  his  booty.  The  losses  were  ten  thousand  men  on 
each  side. 

More  to  the  right,  other  operations  had  had  for  ob 
ject  the  occupation  and  the  defence  of  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi  itself.  Over  all  this  zone  had  been 
seen  the  combined  action  of  the  flotillas  and  the  land 
forces.  Cairo,  Columbus,  Island  No.  10,  Memphis, 
having  successively  been  carried  by  the  Unionists, 
their  efforts  were  especially  directed  against  the 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  131 

fortress  of  Vicksburg.  This  city  was  attacked  at  sever?! 
times  by  water  and  by  land,  but  it  was  defended  al 
ways  with  courage  and  with  success  ;  it  braves  yet, 
to-day,  the  assaults  of  the  Federals,  who  are  expecting 
better  success  from  a  canal  dug  011  the  west  side  of  the 
river,  and  intended  to  turn  off  the  waters  in  order  to 
leave  the  city  dry.  An  army  of  fifty  thousand  men, 
under  Generals  Grant  and  McClernand,  went  to 
operate  against  Yicksburg,  with  the  co-operation  of  a 
flotilla  under  Commodore  Porter  from  above,  and  one 
under  Commodore  Farragut,  coming  from  below. 

The  course  of  the  Lower  Mississippi  is  still  occupied 
by  the  Secessionists  at  Port  Hudson,  thirty  leagues 
above  New  Orleans.  Apart  from  these  points,  which 
obstruct  the  free  navigation  of  the  great  river,*  its 
whole  course  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Federals. 

Upon  the  Atlantic  coasts,  and  upon  the  sea,  the 
condition  of  affairs  is  not  notably  changed.  The  Se 
cessionists  have  had  some  success  as  privateers,  among 
others,  with  a  vessel  constructed  in  England — the 
Alabama.  They  have  also  retaken  the  port  of  Gal- 
veston.  But  the  blockade  is  still  as  rigorous  as  in 
the  beginning,  and  a  recent  attempt  to  break  it  before 
Charleston  has  been  so  promptly  repressed  that  it  only 
makes  more  evident  the  real  maritime  superiority  of 
the  Union. 

*  The  Secessionists  have  just  captured  there,  two  gunboats  which 
had  cleared  the  pass  at  Vicksburg :  the  Queen  of  the  "West  and  the 
Indianola. 


132  REPORT    TO    THE 

TLe  fleet  of  Monitors,  of  which  I  have  already 
spoken,  is  actually  at  sea,  and  is  expected  at  an  early 
attack  against  one  of  the  important  points  of  the 
coast. 

In  conclusion,  the  military  situation  is  at  this  time 
the  following : 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  the  orders  of 
General  Hooker,  successor  to  Burnside,  is  in  echelon 
to  the  right  and  to  the  left  of  Centreville,  rendered 
inactive  by  the  muddy  state  of  the  country  at  this 
season. 

Twenty  thousand  men,  under  General  Foster, 
menace  Richmond  from  Newbern,  in  South  Carolina. 

An  army  of  fifty  thousand  men,  under  General 
Hunter,  landed  recently  at  Port  Royal,  in  South 
Carolina,  apparently  destined  to  cut  the  communica 
tions  between  Savannah  and  Charleston,  in  order  to 
operate,  according  to  the  circumstances,  upon  one  of 
these  two  capitals  of  the  Secessionists. 

At  New  Orleans,  the  Army  of  Louisiana,  now  com 
manded  by  General  Banks,  who  has  here  replaced  the 
skilful  and  energetic,  but  a  little  harsh,  General  But 
ler.  This  army  has  just  retaken  Baton  Rouge,  the 
capital  of  Louisiana,  and  ought  to  furnish  a  corps  for 
the  borders  of  Texas,  and  another  to  co-operate  with 
the  fleet  in  the  capture  of  Port  Hudson  and  of  Yicks- 
burg. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  or  of  Tennessee, 
under  the  orders  of  General  Rosecrans,  operating  to 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  133 

the  south  of  Nashville,  disposed  in  a  manner  to  be 
able,  according  to  the  necessity,  to  co-operate  in  tak 
ing  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  or  to  throw  itself  by 
its  left  upon  the  Carolinas,  so  as  to  join  itself  to  Fos 
ter  or  to  Hunter. 

Finally,  the  army  of  Grant,  besieging  Yicksburg, 
and  intending,  as  rapidly  as  its  success  will  permit,  to 
descend  the  river  and  approach  Banks,  in  order,  at 
last,  to  effect  its  junction  with  the  latter. 

Besides,  also,  a  great  number  of  detached  corps, 
more  or  less  regular,  comprising  those  of  the  extreme 
"West,  in  the  States  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 

In  front  of  each  of  these  armies  the  South  has  also 
a  principal  one,  under  the  command  of  generals 
already  known,  that  is  to  say:  against  Hooker, 
General  Lee ;  at  Charleston,  General  Beauregard ; 
in  the  extreme  South,  Magruder ;  in  Tennessee, 
Longstreet,  having  replaced  Bragg;  at  Yicksburg, 
Yan  Dorn  and  Price ;  and  numberless  guerilla  parties 
again  forming  themselves  in  Tennessee  and  in  Ken 
tucky,  upon  the  rear  of  Rosecrans  and  of  Grant. 

If  we  compare  the  actual  situation  to  that  of  a  year 
ago,  we  see  that  the  North  has  made  incontestable 
progress,  and  that,  continuing  at  this  rate,  it  will 
arrive,  before  two  or  three  years,  at  the  end  of  its 
principal  task.  Without  doubt,  the  success  has  not 
corresponded  to  the  hopes  which  the  first  attempts 
had  excited.  The  resistance,  so  obstinate  and  even 
brilliant,  of  the  Secessionists  in  Yirginia ;  their  bold 


REPORT   TO    THE 

designs  in  Maryland,  in  Pennsylvania,  and  at  the  very 
doors  of  Ohio  and  Indiana,  constituted  a  sensible 
moral  check  for  the  Union,  which  had  for  a  moment 
hoped,  not  without  some  appearance  of  reason,  to  be 
able  to  finish  the  campaign  in  the  course  of  1862,  and 
to  treat  in  the  autumn,  and  at  Richmond  itself,  for  a 
durable  peace.  But  this  check  to  its  self-love  once 
admitted,  the  advantage  of  the  arms  of  the  North  is 
incontestable.  The  success  is  dearly  purchased,  it  is 
true,  in  every  way,  but  it  is  not  less  palpable ;  the 
North  makes  five  steps  in  advance,  perhaps,  and 
retires  three ;  but  there  still  remain  two  of  advan 
tage. 

Having  infinitely  more  resources  than  the  South,  it 
is  to  be  believed,  I  repeat  it,  and  to  be  hoped,  that  in 
this  proportion  of  sacrifices  the  Union  will  triumph, 
and  will  be  finally  restored  by  the  force  of  arms. 

We  should  be  able  not  to  limit  ourselves  to  the 
hope,  but  to  predict  with  certainty  such  a  result,  were 
the  North  more  united  than  it  is ;  were  the  real  senti 
ment  of  its  situation,  as  well  as  that  of  its  historic 
responsibility,  in  face  of  the  consequences  of  the  actual 
crisis,  able  to  overcome,  for  some  time,  the  deplorable 
passions  of  party  spirit  and  of  clique  ;  or  if,  in  default 
of  this,  the  Government  could  assume  strength 
enough  to  annihilate  the  miserable  intrigues  which 
daily  hinder  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Alas  !  far  from 
having  the  power  to  break  the  fetters  on  the  military 
operations,  the  government  itself  has  not,  sometimes, 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  135 

the  energy  to  resist  certain  currents,  springing  from 
the  very  nature  of  its  republican  organization,  which 
cause  it  to  thwart  the  better  measures  of  the  generals. 
Let  us  recognize,  also,  the  fact  that  its  task  is  one 
of  the  most  arduous :  for  it  is  upon  it  that  the  fury 
excited  by  the  disappointments  and  the  accidents 
necessarily  incident  to  war  always  discharges  itself. 
While  some  successes  easily  raise  it  in  the  eyes  of  the 
masses,  which  are  in  the  United  States  the  true 
sovereign,  the  reverse  which  misfortune  sends  it,  or 
the  gradual  progress  to  which  it  is  reduced,  creates  for 
it  numerous  adversaries.  The  latter  give  vent  to 
their  dissatisfaction  in  the  frequent  elections,  which 
proceed  regularly  during  war  as  in  peace,  and  the 
official  positions  in  the  different  States  are  soon  occu 
pied  by  enemies,  more  or  less  ardent,  of  the  Govern 
ment,  who  add  new  complications  and  new  causes  of 
disorder  to  those  of  which  there  were  already  so  many 
to  complain.  It  is  thus  that,  in  several  States,  as 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Illinois,  recent  elec 
tions  have  brought  into  power  declared  enemies  of 
the  administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln. 

Important  decisions,  however,  and  which  ought  to 
advance  the  crisis  towards  a  solution,  have  been  made 
by  the  President  and  by  Congress.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  the  North,  who  believed  herself  stronger 
than  she  really  is,  had  for  her  principal  aim  the 
restoration  of  the  Union  at  every  cost.  In  order  to  do 
that,  she  sought  as  much  as  possible  to  continue  in 


136  EEPOKT   TO    THE 

the  legal  condition,  without  touching  upon  the  irrita 
ting  question  of  slavery,  and  to  accompany  her  mili 
tary  movements  with  every  desirable  restraint.  The 
residents  in  sympathy  with  the  enemy,  although 
showing  themselves  profoundly  hostile  and  disdainful, 
were  treated  with  a  mildness  and  tenderness  which 
bordered  upon  the  ridiculous.  The  smallest  supplies 
furnished  by  them  were  paid  for  at  an.  excessively 
high  rate,  and  in  ready  money,  while  everywhere  else, 
in  Europe,  requisitions  w^ould  have  been  made  upon 
them.  Their  blacks,  amongst  other  things,  were  as 
much  respected  as  the  most  sacred  relics.  And  these 
measures,  I  repeat  it,  were  dictated  by  the  thought 
that,  after  some  military  successes  which  they  should 
easily  obtain,  the  ambitious  leaders  of  the  South 
would  be  discarded,  and  that  peace  would  be  made 
upon  the  same  basis  of  the  old  Constitution  of  the 
Union,  guaranteeing  to  the  States  of  the  South  their 
slave  property.  Perhaps  some  advantage  would  be 
taken  of  the  circumstance,  to  establish  some  condi 
tions  in  favor  of  slow  and  gradual  emancipation,  but 
on  this  point  there  was  no  certainty. 

The  reverses  of  the  Federals,  in  the  course  of  the 
summer,  introduced  other  reflections  and  other  senti 
ments.  The  North  ought  to  have  perceived,  to  the 
detriment  of  her  vanity,  that  she  was  not  in  a  state 
to  treat  the  South  in  a  forbearing  manner,  and  that 
all  her  means  would  not  be  too  much  to  enable  her 
to  carry  on  the  contest  with  advantage.  But  in  the 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  137 

South,  while  the  whites  fought,  the  negro  slaves  cul 
tivated  the  soil,  looked  after  the  farms,  produced,  in 
a  word,  the  resources  which  served  to  support  the 
war.  Sometimes,  even,  they  employed  them  as 
laborers  in  the  works  of  fortification.  To  guarantee 
to  the  South,  from  pure  scruples  for  the  right  of  the 
Constitution,  such  a  facility,  became  the  excess  of 
good-nature.  As  much  would  it  have  availed  to 
guarantee  her  gunpowder,  under  the  pretext  that  it 
is  black. 

On  the  other  side,  a  party  very  noisy,  and  become, 
as  all  extreme  parties  do,  more  and  more  powerful  in 
the  proportion  of  the  reverses,  by  the  very  logic  of  its 
situation — the  abolition  party — lost  no  occasion  to  de 
mand  imperiously  the  immediate  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  Her  journals,  her  orators,  the  eloquent  Sen 
ator  Sumner  among  others,  caused  persuasive  words 
to  resound  through  the  land. 

Under  this  double  influence,  the  Federal  govern 
ment,  which  had  already  decreed  many  partial  acts  of 
confiscation  of  the  slaves  of  the  rebels  in  arms,  and  a 
bill  in  favor  of  gradual  emancipation,  with  indemnity 
to  the  proprietors,  and  plans  of  colonization,  had  no 
trouble  in  deciding  to  strike  the  grand  blow.  The 
22d  of  September,  President  Lincoln  issued  a  procla 
mation,  in  which  he  announced,  as  a  war  measure, 
that  all  the  slaves  of  the  proprietors  in  arms  against 
the  Union,  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1863,  should 
be  in  fact  free,  and  that  the  civil  and  military  officers 


138  KEPOKT   TO   THE 

of  the  United  States  should  render  them  assistance. 
This  great  resolution,  sanctioned  by  Congress,  was 
afterwards  put  in  execution,  as  far  as  it  was  pos 
sible,  by  a  second  proclamation  of  President  Lincoln, 
on  the  1st  January,  1863,  declaring  free  the  slaves  of 
all  the  States  and  portions  of  States  still  at  war 
against  the  Union.  It  was  followed  by  another  bill, 
dated  the  16th  of  February,  1863,  ordering  the  arm 
ing  of  the  blacks,  and  their  formation  into  regiments, 
which  bill  was  immediately  put  in  execution.  At 
all  the  points  of  the  Slave  States  where  the  Fed 
erals  have  succeeded  in  gaining  a  foot-hold,  special 
recruiting  offices  for  the  negroes  have  been  opened, 
and  at  this  time  eighty  regiments  of  blacks  are  in 
formation.  Not  only  have  the  blacks  aided  in  sup 
porting  the  vitality  of  the  South  by  their  labors,  but 
they  will  second  the  military  action  of  the  North,  and 
by  that  means  the  latter  has  certainly  acquired  a 
double  advantage. 

In  return,  it  has  excited  a  redundancy  of  rage  in 
the  Secession  States,  of  which  the  President,  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  has  allowed  himself  to  proceed,  by  a 
proclamation,  to  menaces  of  cruel  reprisals,  which,  it 
is  hoped,  will  remain  without  application.  In  the 
North,  under  the  flag  of  which  march,  it  is  known, 
several  Slave  States,  the  act  of  emancipation  has  cre 
ated  also  numerous  malcontents.  The  party  called 
Democratic  has  made  of  it  an  electoral  arm,  and  is 
now  still  using  it  with  skill  and  with  success  to  de- 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  139 

stroy  the  influence  of  the  Republican  party  and  the 
power  of  the  President. 

Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  these  secondary 
struggles,  breaking  out  in  the  midst  of  the  torrent  of 
the  gigantic  contest  of  the  North  against  the  South 
the  fact  and  the  right  of  the  emancipation  proclaimed 
will  remain  intact  for  those  whom  it  has  been  able  to 
reach.  The  cause  of  the  equality  of  the  races  will 
have  been  equally  advanced  by  the  organization  of 
the  black  regiments,  which  will  be  a  fortunate  prece 
dent,  and,  in  these  two  respects,  the  friends  of  Chris 
tian  equality  ought  to  hail  with  pleasure  the  acts  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  even  though  they  have  been  brought 
about  incidentally,  and  qualified  as  measures  of  war 
rather  than  as  acts  of  justice. 

A  bill  instituting  the  conscription  for  the  levies 
which  would  be  necessary  in  the  future,  and  adopted 
in  the  course  of  February  by  Congress,  completes  the 
series  of  salutary  measures  with  which  the  events 
have  inspired  the  administration.  By  means  of  an 
army  recruited  by  conscription,  and  provided  with 
officers  who  can  be  chosen  outside  of  miserable  politi 
cal  influences,  the  reign  of  law  can  be  more  easily 
assured  against  the  attempts  to  support  rather  than 
oppose,  even  in  the  very  North  itself,  the  work  of 
secession. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  mention  here  some  of  the 
principal  sources  from  which  can  be  derived  informa 
tion  upon  the  events  more  particularly  military. 


14:0  EEPOKT   TO   THE 

The  journals  and  reviews,  so  numerous  in  the 
United  States,  are  to  be  consulted  in  the  front  rank, 
for  all  give  detailed  news  of  the  operations.  This  ex 
amination,  however,  requires  some  sagacity,  as  well 
as  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  military  affairs 
are  conducted  in  general,  and  in  the  United  States  in 
particular,  where  politics  and  a  thousand  personal  in 
trigues  are  continual.  These  journals  are  ordinarily 
of  large  size.  They  abound  in  correspondence  from 
the  camps,  which  occupies  many  columns,  and  often 
contains  very  contradictory  information.  To  read, 
only,  and  to  examine  these  primitive  elements  of  his 
tory  in  the  papers,  ordinarily  badly  printed  and  in 
very  small  type,  afterwards  to  compare  and  weigh  the 
facts  received,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  truth,  consti 
tute  a  toil  of  great  length,  and  often  discouraging. 

The  official  reports  of  the  generals  are  seldom 
printed,  except  by  the  care  of  the  government,  which 
often  abridges  them, — a  course  fully  justifiable  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy, — of  the  most  striking  passages. 
These  reports  are  ordinarily  very  long,  diffuse,  en 
tangled,  interspersed  with  phrases  according  to  the 
need  of  particular  occasions.  One  would  take  them 
often  for  diplomatic  notes,  for  the  mandates  of  an  at 
torney,  or  for  polemic  articles,  as  much  as  for  reports 
really  military.  In  the  simple  reading  of  these  diverse 
-official  accounts,  one  can  see  how  much  the  service  of 
the  staff  is  under-estimated  in  the  army.  Some,  how 
ever,  of  Generals  Halleck,  McClellan,  and  Butler, 


SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT.  141 

among  others,  can  be  noticed  as  honorable  exceptions 
among  the  great  number. 

The  proces  verbaiix  of  the  courts-martial  and  of  the 
courts  of  inquiry  constitute  an  element  of  publicity, 
and  of  historical  sources,  peculiar  to  the  United  States, 
and  of  the  highest  value.  I  have  already  spoken  of 
the  institution  of  these  innumerable  courts  of  justice, 
where  the  generals  and  the  highest  functionaries  of 
the  government  come  to  make  their  depositions,  and 
to  be  submitted  to  interrogatories  like  simple  wit 
nesses  in  a  court  of  correction.  If  this  machinery 
complicates  sometimes  the  operations  and  gravely 
disturbs  the  discipline,  it  is  necessary,  in  return,  to 
recognize  the  fact  that  it  signally  facilitates  the  task  of 
history,  and  in  this  respect  I  should  be  the  last  to 
complain  of  it.  By  the  free  practice  of  these  courts, 
almost  all  the  important  operations  pass  through  the 
sieve  of  public  inquiry  and  of  contradictory  discus 
sion.  Those  of  Generals  Smith,  McDowell,  Porter, 
Pope,  Fremont,  Burnside,  Buell,  &c.,  and  the  proces- 
verbaux  which  have  resulted  from  them,  furnish  docu 
ments  of  the  greatest  value  for  the  understanding  of 
the  movements  in  which  these  generals  have  partici 
pated;  but  they  demand,  on  account  of  their  pro 
lixity,  a  great  allowance  of  patience  on  the  part  of 
persons  desirous  of  deriving  profit  from  them. 

The  annual  reports  of  administration  of  the  min 
isters,  to -the  President  and  to  Congress,  are  also  docu 
ments  of  high  value,  which  have  the  particular  merit 


14:2  REPORT   TO   THE 

of  being  more  explicit  and  less  extended  than  tlio 
preceding.  They  demand,  however,  some  reserve  of 
confidence,  seeing  that  they  are  prepared  particularly 
with  a  view  to  justify  the  administration.  It  is  neces 
sary  to  complete  them  by  the  observations  made  in 
the  chambers  and  in  the  diiferent  committees,  among 
others,  in  the  military  committee  of  the  Senate. 

The  various  annual  almanacs  have  the  custom  of 
publishing  a  chronological  sketch  of  the  military 
events,  where  one  can  easily  find  certain  dates  or 
proper  names.  But  we  ought  to  avoid  their  figures  as 
much  as  reflections,  and  to  know  how  to  rectify  them 
by  taking  into  the  account  the  political  complexion  of 
the  editor. 

An  interesting  publication,  and  which  would  be 
still  more  so  if  it  did  not  threaten  to  become  too  volu 
minous,  is  edited  in  New  York,  and  has  for  its  title : 
Rebellion  Record.  It  has  already  reached  its  twenty- 
fourth  volume,  and  will  probably  have,  in  the  same 
proportion,  a  sixtieth  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  actual 
period  of  the  war.  It  comprises  three  parts:  one, 
much  the  most  important,  comprising  official  and 
semi-official  documents ;  another  containing  a  collec 
tion  of  divers  incidents  in  the  campaign,  and  which 
has  the  pretension,  a  little  exaggerated,  of  being  a 
journal  of  the  operations;  the  third,  a  medley  of 
poetry,  songs,  anecdotes,  and  of  occasional  editorial 
remarks. 

A  great  number  of  pamphlets,  controversial  or  bio- 


SWISS    MILITARY  DEPARTMENT.  143 

graphical,  have  also  been  published  in  various  cities 
of  the  United  States.  Two  among  others,  of  Colonel 
Ellet,  Engineer,  who  organized  the  ram  flotillas  of  the 
Mississippi;  two  of  General  Fremont,  on  the  subject 
of  his  different  commands;  one  upon  General  McClel- 
lan;  many  upon  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  &c.,  are 
instructive.  It  is  not  within  my  knowledge  that 
there  have  appeared,  thus  far,  books  of  some  value, 
treating  specially  of  the  military  events  in  an  histori 
cal  point  of  view.  A  volume :  The  War  in  America, 
by  the  Kentuckian,  Colonel  Schafner,  edited  at  Lon 
don,  treats  only  of  the  political  part.  The  same  is  true 
of  another  by  Count  Gurowrski.  There  is  one  an 
nounced  by  the  General  of  Engineers,  Barnard,  which 
ought  to  be  more  instructive.  There  is  some  infor 
mation  offered  in  regard  to  the  South,  in  a  little 
book  which  has  just  appeared  in  French,  at  Gen 
eva,  and  entitled:  Treize  Mois  dans  V  Armee  des 
ficlelles* 

Many  literary  men  have  already  undertaken  vast 
publications,  and,  very  recently,  one  of  them  has  com- 
msnced  by  sending  a  circular  to  all  the  generals,  to 
announce  to  them  his  enterprise,  and  desiring  them 
at  the  same  time  to  fill  up  a  formula  to  contain  the 
extent  of  thsir  civil  and  military  services,  and  the  de 
tail  of  their  exploits.  There  will  consequently  be  no 

*  Thirteen  Months  in  the  Army  of  the  Eebels.  Adventures  of  a 
Volunteer  Enlisted  in  spite  of  Himself,  by  William  G.  Stevenson,  of 
New  York.  1  vol.  12mo.  Geneva,  press  of  Rambos  &  Schuchart. 


144  REPORT   TO   THE 

want  of  light  on  the  subject  of  this  campaign,  es 
pecially  on  the  side  of  the  North.  But,  of  all  these 
sources,  the  most  valuable  will  be,  without  doubt,  the 
publications  which,  according  to  custom,  will  be  or 
dered  by  the  Senate,  joined  to  the  commentaries  of 
the  several  commanding  generals. 

In  Europe,  England  has  furnished,  besides  a  great 
number  of  writings  upon  slavery,  some  books  upon 
the  events  in  the  United  States,  but  all  treating  of  the 
political  rather  than  of  the  military  part.  From  the 
Diary  North  and  South  of  Mr.  Russell,  correspondent 
of  the  Ti?nes,  and  from  various  letters  addressed  to 
that  journal,  one  can,  however,  draw  interesting  mili 
tary  information.  It  is  necessary,  however,  to  notice 
the  political  disfavor  which  the  cause  of  the  Union 
finds  among  the  English,  and  not  to  admit  the  humor- 
some  appreciations  of  their  writers,  otherwise  than 
on  the  condition  of  not  being  obliged  to  believe  them. 

In  Germany,  the  daily  journals,  the  Allgcmeine 
Zeitung  among  others,  have  received,  more  than  once, 
excellent  communications  upon  the  war  of  the  United 
States.  A  number  of  the  papers  have  reproduced, 
among  others,  the  impressions  of  a  Prussian  officer, 
an  actor  in  the  ranks  of  the  South,  which  deserve  to 
be  noticed.  We  are  able  to  learn  from  this  officer 
that  in  the  campaign  of  the  peninsula  of  Yorktown, 
there  was  great  disorder  in  the  midst  of  the  Secession 
army  after  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  and  that  if 
McClellan  had  had  only  some  thousand  men  more3  so 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  145 

as  to  advance,  lie  would  undoubtedly  have  entered 
Richmond. 

A  book,  favorably  announced,  has  appeared  at 
Frankfort,  at  the  end  of  1861,  going  back  even  to  the 
opening  of  the  campaign.  The  author,  Mr.  Aneke, 
analyzes  very  well  all  the  preliminaries  of  the  strug 
gle.  He  belongs  to  the  extreme  Republican  party, 
and  should  take  service  under  the  United  States  as  an 
artillery  officer.  If  this  work  is  finished,  it  will  not 
fail,  to  judge  by  what  is  already  known  of  it,  to  offer 
a  genuine  interest  to  the  public. 

In  France  there  have  been  published  two  works, 
particularly  worthy  of  mention. 

In  the  first  place,  Lett  res  sur  V  Amerique,  by  M. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Ferri  Pisani,  aide-de-camp  of 
Prince  Napoleon,  who  made,  in  1861,  a  visit  to  the  two 
belligerent  camps.  These  piquant  letters,  of  an  officer 
as  intelligent  as  experienced,  form  on  the  whole  a 
very  faithful  picture,  though  sometimes  a  little  too 
imaginative,  of  the  military  movements  which  the 
author  has  had  under  his  eyes.  They  give  little  his 
torical  detail,  but  they  have  an  originality  of  percep 
tion  and  of  comparison,  a  delicacy  of  glance,  and  a 
charm  of  style,  which  make  it  to  be  much  regretted 
that  they  were  not  continued  even  to  the  period  of  the 
important  events  which  followed.  They  have,  again, 
been  the  first  to  furnish  to  Europe  some  little  informa 
tion,  characteristic  and  precise,  upon  the  transatlantic 
troubles.  On  this  occasion,  begging  you,  Mr.  Coun- 
7 


14:6  EEPOKT    TO    TETE 

scllor,  to  excuse  my  speaking  again  of  myself,  I  can 
well  avow  that  it  was  the  perusal  of  these  letters  in  the 
Moniteur  de  VArmee,  in  October,  1861,  which  deter 
mined  me  to  make  also  a  military  excursion  in 
America ;  and,  in  spite  of  some  slurs,  a  little  sarcas 
tic,  flung  at  the  Yankees  by  the  witty  French  officer, 
I  have  but  to  thank  him  to-day  for  having  contributed 
to  give  me  a  more  ample  acquaintance  with  the 
country. 

Another  French  book,  elegantly  drawn  from  notes 
of  an  eye-witness,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  remark 
able  publications  upon  this  war.  It  is  a  small  volume 
entitled :  Campagne  de  VArmee  du  Potomac,  and 
published  at  first  in  the  Revue  des  Deux-Mondes. 
They  attribute  it  to  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  and 
with  reason,  I  think.  The  Prince  de  Joinville  con 
stantly  accompanied  the  staff  of  General  McClellan, 
where  figured,  as  captains  and  aides-de-camp,  his  two 
nephews,  the  Count  de  Paris  and  the  Duke  de  Char- 
tres.  He  was  then  well  situated  to  take  note  of  the 
events,  and  each  evening,  in  the  bivouac  as  under  the 
tent,  his  note-book  received  precious  deposits  for  his 
tory.  Joining  to  this  advantage  a  great  experience, 
and  sound  principles  in  the  matter  of  military  opera 
tions,  a  correct  and  elevated  judgment,  and  a  quite 
peculiar  talent  of  observation,  the  author  has  been 
able  to  give  to  this  book,  which  it  will  not  be  neces 
sary  to  judge  upon  its  size,  the  stamp  of  an  excellent 
work.  It  is  one  of  the  first  sources  upon  which  we 


SWISS    MILITARY    DEPARTMENT.  147 

ought  to  draw,  in  order  to  possess  a  just  idea  of  what 
is  actually  taking  place  in  the  United  States.  It 
brings  the  reader  down  to  the  end  of  the  campaign  of 
the  Peninsula  of  Yorktown — a  campaign  which  com 
prises  considerable  military  feats,  also  the  famous  bat 
tle  of  the  Seven  Days,  upon  the  Chickahominy  and  the 
James  Kiver,  of  which  the  account  is  given  with  the 
greatest  perspicuity.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  emi 
nent  author  will  not  rest  there,  and  that,  among  others, 
he  will  assure  the  public  of  his  estimation  of  the 
novel  marine  of  the  United  States — a  subject  at  pres 
ent  so  important,  and  which  few  persons  in  Europe 
would  be  able  to  approach  with  the  same  authority  as 
himself. 

I  have  yet  to  mention,  among  the  French  publica 
tions,  the  Epliemerides  of  the  Moniteur  de  VAnnee, 
compiled  generally  with  care  and  impartiality.  They 
have  the  same  kind  of  usefulness  as  the  American 
almanacs,  and  would  surpass  them  in  merit  if  they 
did  not  include  sufficiently  numerous  errors,  geo 
graphical  and  others. 

The  Moniteur  Universel  contains  also,  once  or 
twice  a  week,  American  correspondence,  of  which 
some  furnish  useful  military  information,  and  all 
denote  a  solid  knowledge  of  the  country,  joined,  un 
fortunately,  to  a  severity,  often  excessive,  on  the 
side  of  the  cause  of  the  Union.  Two  other  papers  of 
Paris,  the  Siede,  and  especially  the  Journal  des 
^  sustain  on  the  other  hand,  with  zeal  and 


148      REPORT   TO   THE    SWISS   MILITARY   DEPARTMENT. 

talent,  the  principles  for  which  the  Federals  make  so 
many  sacrifices.  The  Jo^irnal  des  Debats  has  always 
given,  by  the  side  of  good,  substantial  articles,  more 
of  details  than  its  colleagues  upon  this  struggle. 

Among  the  occasional  political  publications,  the 
Itejjublique  Americaine  of  M.  Xavier  Eyma,  an 
ardent  volume  of  M.  the  Count  of  Gasparin,  Un 
Grand  Peuple  qui  se  releve,  and  divers  articles  of  the 
Revue  Chretienne,  among  others,  of  M.  the  minister 
Fisch,*  ought  not  to  be  neglected. 

In  Switzerland,  it  is  in  the  columns  of  the  Journal 
de  Geneve,  in  its  important  correspondence  from  New 
York,  among  others,  that  we  find  the  best  opinions 
upon  the  events  in  the  United  States. 

I  conclude  here,  Mr.  Federal  Counsellor,  the  sup 
plements  which  I  thought  ought  to  follow  my  report 
of  the  9th  of  August,  1862,  and,  while  thanking  you 
anew  for  the  kindness  with  which  you  have  deigned 
to  accept  it,  I  have  the  honor  to  reiterate  to  you  the 
assurance  of  my  most  respectful  devotion. 

FD.  LECOMTE, 
Federal  Lieutenant- Colonel. 

LAUSANNE,  March  16th,  18G3. 

*  The  articles  of  M.  Fisch  have  been  collected  in  one  volume  :  Etats- 
Unis  en  1861.  1vol.  12mo.  Paris,  18G1. 


J).  Van  Nostrand^t  Publications. 

Evolutions  of  Field   Batteries  of 
Artillery. 

Translated  from  the  French,  and  arranged  for  the  Army  and  Militia 
of  the  United  States.  By  Gen.  ROBERT  ANDERSON,  U.  S.  Army. 
Published  by  order  of  the  War  Department.  1  vol.  cloth,  32 

plates.    $1. 

WAE  DEPARTMENT,  Nov.  2c/,  1859. 

The  System  of  "Evolutions  of  Field  Batteries/'  translated  from  the  French, 
and  arranged  for  the  service  of  the  United  btates,  by  Major  Robert  Anderson, 
of  the  1st  Keiiirnent  of  Artillery,  having  been  approved  by  the  President,  is 
published  for  the  information  and  government  of  the  army. 

All  Evolutions  of  Field  Batteries  not  embraced  in  this  system  are  prohibited, 
and  those  herein  prescribed  will  be  strictly  observed. 

J.  B.  FLOYD,  Secretary  of  War. 

"This  system  having  been  adopted  by  the  War  Department,  is  to  the  artil 
lerist  what  Hardee's  Tactics  is  to  the  infantry  soldier ;  the  \vant  of  a  work  like 
this  has  been  seriously  felt,  and  will  be  eagerly  welcomed."— Louisville  Journal. 


Standing     Orders    of    the     Seventh 
Regiment,   National   Guard. 

For  the  Regulation  and  Government  of  the  Regiment  in  the  Field  or 
in  Quarters.  By  A.  DURYEE,  Colonel.  New  edition,  flexible 
cloth.  40  cents. 

"This,  which  is  a  new  edition  of  a  popular  work,  cannot  fail  to  be  eagerly 
sought  after,  as  presenting  clearly  and  succinctly  the  principles  of  organization 
and  discipline  of  a  most  favorite  corps.  An  appropriate  index  facilitates  refer 
ence  to  the  matter  of  the  volume.11 — 2few  York&r 


Light  Infantry  Company  and  Skir 
mish  Drill. 

The  Company  Drill  of  the  Infantry  of  the  Line,  together  with  the  Skir 
mish  Drill  of  the  Company  and  Battalion,  after  the  Method  of 
General  LE  LOUTEREL.  Bayonet  Fencing ;  with  a  Supplement 
on  the  Handling  and  Service  of  Light  Infantry.  By  J.  MUNROE, 
Col.  22d  Regiment,  N.  G.,  N.  Y.  S.  M.,  formerly  Capt.  U.  S 
Infantry.  1  vol.,  32mo. 


D.  Van  N'ostrand's  Publications, 

Siege  of  Bomarfund  (1854). 

Journals  of  Operations  of  the  Artillery  and  Engineers.  Published 
by  permission  of  the  Minister  of  War.  Illustrated  by  maps  and 
plans.  Translated  from  the  French  by  an  Army  Officer. 
1  vol.  12mo,  cloth.  75  cents. 

"To  military  men  this  little  volume  ia  of  special  interest.  It  contains  a 
translation  by  an  otiicer  of  the  United  States  Army,  of  the  journal  of  operations 
by  the  artillery  and.  engineers  at  the  siege  of  Bomarsund  in  1854,  published  by 
permission  of  the  French  Minister  of  War  in  the  Journal  des  Armees  speciales 
et  de  VEtat  Major.  The  account  of  the  saino  successful  attack,  given  by  Sir 
Howard  Douglas  in  the  new  edition  of  his  work  on  Gunnery,  is  appended;  and 
the  narrative  is  illustrated  by  elaborate  maps  and  plans." — New  York  Paper. 

Lefsons  and   Practical  Notes  on 
Steam, 

The  Steam-Engine,  Propellers,  &c.,  &c.,  for  Young  Marine  Engi 
neers,  Students,  and  others.  By  the  late  W.  R.  KING,  U.  S.  N. 
Revised  by  Chief-Engineer  J.  W.  KING,  U.  S.  Navy.  Sixth 
edition,  enlarged.  8vo,  cloth.  $2.00 

"This  is  the  second  edition  of  a  valuable  work  of  the  late  W.  E,  KINO, 
U.  8.  N.  It  contains  lessons  and  practical  notes  on  Strain  and  the  Steam- 
Engine,  Propellers,  &c.  It  is  calculated  to  be  of  great  use  to  young  marine  en 
gineers,  students,  and  others.  The  text  is  illustrated  and  explained  by  numerous 
diagrams  and  representations  of  machinery.  This  new  edition  has  been  revised 
and  enlarged  by  Chief  Engineer  J.  W.  KING,  U.  S.  N.,  brother  to  the  deceased 
author  of  the  work." — Boston  Daily  Advertiser. 

"This  is  one  of  the  best,  because  eminently  plain  and  practical,  treatises  on 
the  Steam-Engine  ever  published." — Philadelphia  Press. 

"  Its  re-publication  at  this  time,  when  so  many  young  men  are  entering  the 
service  as  naval  engineers,  is  most  opportune.  Each  of  them  ought  to  have  a 
copy." — Philadelphia  Evening  Bulletin. 

Manual  of  Internal  Rules  and  Reg 
ulations  for  Men-of-War. 

By  Commodore  U.  P.  LEVY,  U.  S.  N.,  late  Flag-officer  command 
ing  U.  S.  Naval  Force  in  the  Mediterranean,  &c.  Flexible 
blue  cloth.  Second  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  50  cents. 

"Among  the  professional  publications  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  war, 
•we  willingly  give  a  prominent  place  to  this  useful  little  Manual  of  Rules  and 
Regulations  to  be  observed  on  board  of  ships  of  war.  Its  authorship  is  a  suffi 
cient  guarantee  for  its  accuracy  and  practical  value  ;  and  as  a  guide  to  young 
officers  in  providing  for  the  discipline,  police,  and  sanitary  government  of  the 
vessels  under  their  command,  we  know  of  nothing  superior.' — A.  Y.  Herald. 

"Should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  Naval  officer,  of  whatever  grade,  and  will 
not  come  amiss  to  any  intelligent  mariner.'"— Boston  Traveller. 

"  A  work  which  will  prove  of  great  utilitv,  in  both  the  Naval  service  and 
the  mercantile  marine." — Baltimore  American. 


D.  Van  Nostrand's  Publications. 

Hand- Book  of  Artillery, 

For  the  Service  of  the  United  States  Army  and  Militia.  New  and 
revised  edition.  By  Maj.  JOSEPH  KOBERTS,  U.  S.  A.  1  vol. 
18mo,  cloth.  $1. 

"  A  complete  catechism  of  gun  practice,  covering  the  whole  ground  of  this 
branch  of  military  science,  and  adapted  to  militia  and  volunteer  drill,  as  well  as 
to  the  regular  army.  It  has  the  merit  of  precise  detail,  even  to  the  technical 
names  of  all  parts  of  a  gun,  and  how  the  smallest  operations  connected  with  its 
use  can  be  best  performed.  It  has  evidently  been  prepared  with  great  care, 
and  with  strict  scientific  accuracy.  By  the  recommendation  of  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  commanding  ollicer  of  \he  Artillery  School  at  Fort  Monroe, 
\"a.,  it  has  been  substituted  for  '  Burns1  Questions  and  Answers,'  an  Knglish 
work  which  has  heretofore  been  the  text-book  of  instruction  in  this  country.1' 
^Jftw  York  Century. 


New  Infantry  Tactics, 

For  the  Instruction,  Exercise,  and  Manoeuvres  of  the  Soldier,  a  Com 
pany,  Line  of  Skirmishers,  Battalion,  Brigade,  or  Corps  d'Armee. 
By  Brig. -Gen.  SILAS  CASEY,  U.  S.  A.  3  vols.  24mo.  Half  roan, 
lithographed  plates.  $2.50. 

VOL.  I. — School  of  the  Soldier ;    School  of  the  Company  ;    In 
struction  for  Skirmishers. 
VOL.  II. — School  of  the  Battalion. 

VOL.  III. — Evolutions  of   a  Brigade ;    Evolutions  of   a   Corpg 
d'Armee. 

The  manuscript  of  this  new  system  of  Infantry  Tactics  was  carefully  ex 
amined  by  General  MOCLELLAN,  and  met  with  his  unqualified  approval,  which 
he  has  since  manifested  by  authorizing  General  CASEY  to  adopt  it  for  his  entire 
division.  The  author  has  retained  much  that  is  valuable  contained  in  the  sys 
tems  of  SCOTT  and  HAKDEE,  but  has  made  many  important  changes  and  addi 
tions  which  experience  and  the  exigencies  of  the  service  require.  General 
CASEY'S  reputation  as  an  accomplished  soldier  and  skilful  tactician  is  a  guar 
antee  that  the  work  he  has  undertaken  has  been  thoroughly  performed. 

"These  volumes  are  based  on  the  French  ordonnanees of  1831  and  1845 for 
the  manoauvres  of  heavy  infantry  and  chasseurs  d  pied  ;  both  of  these  systems 
have  been  in  use  in  our  service  for  some  years,  the  former  having  been  trans 
lated  by  Gen.  Scott,  and  the  latter  by  Col.  Ilardee.  After  the  introduction  of 
the  latter  drill  in  our  service,- in  connection  with  Gen.  Scott's  Tactics,  there 
arose  the  necessity  of  a  uniform  system  for  the  manoeuvres  of  all  the  infantry 
arm  of  the  service.  These  volumes  are  the  result  of  the  author's  endeavor  to 
communicate  the  instruction,  now  used  and  adopted  in  the  army,  to  achieve 
this  result." — Boston  Journal. 

"  Based  on  the  best  precedents,  adopted  to  the  novel  requirements  of  the  art 
of  war,  and  very  full  in  its  instructions,  Casey's  Tactics  will  be  received  as  the 
most  useful  and  most  comprehensive  work  of  its  kind  in  our  language.  From 
the  drill  and  discipline  of  the  individual  soldier,  or  through  all  the  various 
combinations,  to  the  mano3uvres  of  a  brigade  and  the  evolutions  of  a  Corps 
D'Armee,  the  student  is  advanced  by  a  clear  method  and  steady  progress.  Ku- 
merons  cuts,  plans,  and  diagrams  illustrate  positions  and  movements,  and  de 
monstrate  to  th«  eye  the  exact  working  out  of  the  individual  position,  brigading, 
order  of  battle,  &c.,  &c.  The  work  is  a  model  of  publishing  success,  being  ia 
three  neat  pocket  volumes."— Nwo  Yorker, 


D.  Van  Nostrand^s  Publications. 

Sword-Play. 

THE  MILITIAMAN'S  MANUAL  AND  SWORD-PLAY  WITHOUT 
A  MASTER. — Rapier  aud  Broad-Sword  Exercises  copiously 
Explained  and  Illustrated ;  Small- Arm  Light  Infantry  Drill  of 
the  United  States  Army;  Infantry  Manual  of  Percussion  Mus 
kets  ;  Company  Drill  of  the  United  States  Cavalry.  By  Major 
M.  W.  BERRIMAN,  engaged  for  the  last  thirty  years  in  the  prac 
tical  instruction  of  Military  Students.  Second  edition.  1  vol. 
12mo,  red  cloth.  $1. 

"Captain  Berriman  has  had  thirty  years' experience  in  teaching  military 
students  ami  bis  work  is  written  in  a  simple,  clear,  and  soldierly  style.  It  is 
Illustrated  with  twelve  plates,  and  is  one  of  the  cheapest  and  moat  complete 
works  of  the  kind  published  in  this  country."—  Aew  York,  World. 

"  This  work  will  be  found  very  valuable  to  all  persons  seeking  military  in 
struction  '  hut  it  recommends  itself  most  especially  to  officers,  and  those  who 
hive  to  use  the  sword  or  sabre.  We  believe  it  is  the  only  work  on  the  use  of 
the  sword  published  in  this  country."— New  York  Tablet. 

"  It  is  a  work  of  obvious  merit  and  value."— Boston  Traveller. 


Official  Army    Regifter    for    i863 

New  edition.     8vo,  paper.     60  cents. 


The  ArtilleriiVs  Manual : 

Compiled  from  various  Sources,  and  adapted  to  the  Service  of  the 
United  States.  Profusely  illustrated  with  woodcuts  and  engrav 
ings  on  stone.  Second  edition,  revised  and  corrected,  with 

valuable   additions.      By  Capt.  JOHN   GIBBON,   U.   S.   Army. 

1  vol.  8vo,  half  roan,  $5. 

This  book  is  now  considered  the  standard  authority  for  that  particular  branch 
of  the  Service  in  the  United  States  Anny.  The  War  Department,  at  Washing 
ton,  has  exhibited  its  thorough  appreciation  of  the  merits  of  this  volume,  tho 
want  of  which  has  been  hitherto  much  felt  in  the  service,  by  subscribing  for  700 
copies. 

"  It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  we  welcome  the  appearance  of  a  new  work  on 
this  subject,  entitled  'The  Artillerist's  Manual,'  by  Capt.  John  Gibbon,  a 
highly  scientific  and  meritorious  officer  of  artillery  in  our  reirular  service.  The 
work,  an  octavo  volume  of  50i)  pages,  in  large,  clear  type,  appears  to  be  well 
adapted  to  supply  just  what  has  been  heretofore  needed  to  fill  the  gnp  between 
the  simple  Manual  and  the  more  abstruse  demonstrations  of  the  science  of  gun 
nery.  The  whole  work  is  profusely  illustrated  with  woodcuts  and  engravings 
on  stone,  tending  to  give  a  more  complete  and  exnct  idea  of  the  various  matters 
described  in  the,  text.  The  book  may  well  be  considered  as  a  valuable  and  im 
portant  addition  to  the  military  science  of  tho  country."— New  York,  Herald. 


D.  Van  N'ostrand'**  Publications. 

The  Political  and  Military  Hiftory 
of  the  Campaign  of  Waterloo. 

Translated  from  the  French  of  General  BARON  DE  JOMINI.  By 
Capt.  S.  V.  BENET,  U.  S.  Ordnance.  1  vol.  12mo,  cloth,  second 
edition.  75  cents. 

"Baron  Jomini  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  greatest  military  his 
torians  and  critics  of  the  century.  His  merits  have  been  recognized  by  the 
highest  military  authorities  i. i  Europe,  and  were  rewarded  in  a  conspicuous 
manner  by  the  greatest  military  power  in  Christendom.  He  learned  the  art  of 
war  in  the  tchool  of  experience,  the  best  and  only  finishing  school  of  the  soldier. 
He  served  with  distinction  in  nearly  all  the  campaigns  of  JS  apoleon,  and  it  was 
mainly  from  the  gigantic  military  operations  of  this  matchless  master  of  the 
art  that  he  was  enabled  to  discover  its  true  principles,  and  to  ascertain  the  best 
means  of  their  application  in  the  infinity  of  combinations  which  actual  war  pre 
sents  Jomini  criticizes  the  details  of  Waterloo  with  great  science,  and  yet  in  a 
manner  that  interests  the  general  reader  as  well  as  the  professional.1 — New 
York  World. 

"This  book  by  Jomini.  though  forming  the  twenty-second  chapter  of  his 
'Life  of  Napoleon,'  is  really  a  unit  in  itself,  and  forms  a  complete  summary  of 
the  campaign.  It  is  an  interesting  volume,  and  deserves  a  place  in  the  atfec- 
tions  of  all  who  would  be  accomplished  military  men." — New  York  Times. 

"  The  present  volume  is  the  concluding  portion  of  hi-  great  work,  '  Vie  Poli- 
tique  et  Militaire  de  JSapoIeon,"  published  in  1826.  Capt.  Beliefs  translation  of 
it  has  been  tor  some  time  before  the  public,  and  has  now  reached  a  second  edi 
tion;  it  is  very  ably  executed,  and  forms  a  work  which  will  always  be  interest 
ing,  and  especially  so  at  a-time  when  military  affairs  are  uppermost  in  the  public 
mind." — Philadelphia  North  American. 


The   "  C.  S.  A."  and  the  Battle  of 
Bull  Run. 

(A  Letter  to  an  English  friend),  by  J.  G-.  BARNARD,  Major  of  Engineers, 
U.  S.  A.,  Brigadier-General  and  Chief  Engineer,  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  With  five  maps.  1  vol.,  8vo.,  cloth.  $1.50. 

"This  book  was  begun  by  the  author  as  a  letter  to  a  friend  in  England,  but  as 
he  proceeded  and  his  MSS.  increased  in  magnitude,  he  changed  his  original  pluri, 
and  the  book  is  the  result  General  Barnard  gives  by  far  the  best,  most  compre 
hensible  and  complete  account  of  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run  we  have  seen.  It  is  illus 
trated  by  some  beautifully  drawn  maps,  prepared  for  the  War  Department  by  the 
topographical  engineers.  He  demonstrates  to  a  certainty  that  but  for  the  cause 
less  panic  the  day  might  not  have  been  lost.  The  author  writes  with  vigor  and 
earnestness,  and  has  contributed  one  of  the  most  valuable  records  yet  published 
of  the  history  of  the  war." — Boxton  Commercial  Bulletin. 

"  A  spirited  and  reliable  view  of  the  true  character  of  the  secession  movement, 
snd  a  correct  account  of  the  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  by  a  military  man  whose  qualifi 
cations  for  the  task  are  equalled  but  by  few  persons." — Cincinnati  Guzette. 

"The  work  is  clearly  written,  and  can  but  leave  the  impression  upon  every 
reader's  mind  that  it  is  truth.  We  commend  it  to  the  perusal  of  every  one  who 
wants  an  intelligent,  truthful  and  graphic  description  of  the  '  C.  S.  A.,'  and  th» 
Battle  of  Bull  JLtun."— New  1  ork  Observer. 


D.  Van  Nostrancrs  Publications. 

Maxims     and     Instructions    on   the 
Art    of  War. 

Maxims,  Advice,  and  Instructions  on  the  Art  of  "War ;  or,  A  Practi 
cal  Military  Guide  for  the  use  of  Soldiers  of  all  Arms  and  of  all 
Countries.  Translated  from  the  French,  by  Captain  LENDY, 
Director  of  the  Practical  Military  College,  late  of  the  French 
Staff,  etc.,  etc.  1  vol.,  18mo.,  cloth.  75  cents. 

"  A  book  of  maxims,  that  is  not  as  dry  as  a  cask  of  'remainder  biscuit,'  is  a 
novelty  in  literature.  The  little  volume  before  us  is  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  It  presents  the  suggestion  of  common  sense  in  military  affairs,  with  a  cer 
tain  brilliancy  and  point.  One  may  read  it  purely  for  entertainment,  and  not  be 
disappointed.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  full  of  practical  instructions  of  great  value. 
When  found  in  the  pocket  of  an  officer  of  volunteers,  it  will  be  the  right  book  in 
the  right  place."— N.  Y.  Tribune. 

"  We  do  not  pretend  to  much  military  science,  but  we  have  found  this  small 
volume  easy  to  understand  and  interesting  to  read.  It  is  compiled  from  old 
•works,  but  is  adapted  to  new  notions  and  improvements,  and  it  gives  in  a  nut 
shell  a  general  idea  of  the  whole  business  of  war.  Some  men  who  have  always 
maintained  'Quaker'  principles,  and  who  have  never  studied  the  trade  and 
mystery  of  fighting,  find  it  difficult  to  comprehend  the  various  strategic  move 
ments  that  are  chronicled  from  day  to  day  in  the  newspapers.  These  men  should 
look  into  the  subject  of  war,  and  we  advise  them,  as  a  beginning,  to  read  this 
book.  It  will  probably  help  their  cloudy  perceptions,  and  enable  them  to  see 
clearly  the  meaning  of  military  operations,  which  now  they  cannot  understand." 
—Providence  Journal. 


Nolan's  System  for  Training  Cavalry 
Horses. 

By  KENXER  GARRARD,  Captain  Fifth  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.    1  vol.,  12mo  , 
cloth.     24  Lithographed -plates.     $1.50. 

*  *  *  "  We  are  glad  when  competent  men  bring  forward  works  that  are  intended 
to  facilitate  the  formation  .of  an  effective  cavalry  force.  Of  this  class  is  Nolan's 
System  for  Training  Cavalry  Hortten,  prepared  for  use  in  this  country,  by  Captain 
Kenner  Garrard,  U.  8.  A.  Captain  Nolan  was  distinguished  in  the  British  service 
for  his  knowledge  of  the  cavalry  arm,  and  for  his  general  talents.  As  the  work 
had  become  out  of  print,  Captain  Garrard  has  done  well  in  reproducing  it:  he 
has  added  to  it  a  chapter  on  ltsireyns  Method  of  Training  Horses,  and  another  on 
Horse  Shoeing.  The  volume  is  well  illustrated.  It  cannot  be  too  warmly  com 
mended  to  general  use." — Boston  Daily  Evening  Traveller. 

"It  explains  a  perfectly  successful  method  of  gaining  the  mastery  over  the 
most  refractory  horse,  and  is  no  less  adapted  for  the  use  of  the  rider  for  exercise, 
business,  or  pleasure  than  of  the  cavalrj  officer.  By  the  plan  of  the  author,  tho 
time  of  training  is  greatly  shortened;  the  progress  is  so  gradual  that  it  never 
uiakes  the  horse  unatniable,  and  the  successive  lessons  teinl  to  the  development 
of  mutual  love  and  admiration  between  the  parties." — N.  Y.  Tribune. 


1}.  Van  N~ostrand'ls  Publications. 


School   of  the   Guides. 

Designed  for  the  use  of  the  Militia  of  the  United  States.  Flexible 
cloth.  50  cents. 

"This  excellent  compilation  condenses  into  a  compass  of  less  than  sixty- 
pages  all  the  instruction  necessary  for  the  guides,  and  the  information  being 
disconnected  with  other  matters,  is  more  readily  referred  to  and  more  easily 
acquired." — Louisville  Journal. 

"  The  work  is  carefully  got  up,  and  is  illustrated  by  numerous  figures,  which 
make  the  positions  of  the"  guides  plain  to  the  commonest  understanding.  Those 
of  our  sergeants  who  wish  to  be  '  posted '  in  their  duties  should  procure  a  copy." 
— Sunday  Mercury,  Philadelphia. 

"  It  has  received  high  praise,  and  will  prove  of  great  service  in  perfecting 
the  drill  of  our  Militia." — $f.  American  and  U.  S.  Gazette,  Phil. 

"This  neat  hand-book  of  the  elementary  movements  on  Avhich  tho  art  of  the 
tactician  is  based,  reflects  great  credit  on  Col.  LE  GAL,  whose  reputation  is  de 
servedly  hisrh  among  military  men.  No  soldier  should  be  without  the  School 
of  the  Guides.11 — New  York" Daily  News. 


Gunnery  in    1858  : 

A   Treatise   on   Rifles,    Cannon,    and    Sporting    Arms.      By   WM. 
GREENER,  C.  E.     1  vol.  8vo,  cloth.    $3. 

Manual  of  Heavy  Artillery. 

For  the  Use  of  Volunteers.     1  vol.  12mo.     Red  cloth.     75  cents. 

4i  Should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  Artillerist." — N.  Y.  Illustrated  News. 

"This  is  a  concise  and  well-prepared  Manual,  adapted  to  the  wants  of  Vol 
unteers.  The  instruction,  which  is  of  an  important  nature,  is  presented  m  a 
simple  and  clear  style,  such  as  will  be  easily  understood.  The  volume  is  also 
illustrated  with  explanatory  cuts  and  drawings.  It  is  a  work  of  practical 
value,  and  one  needed  at  the  present  time  in  tho  service." — Boston  Commercial 
Bulletin. 

"An  indispensable  Manual  for  all  who  wish  easily  and  accurately  to  learn 
the  school  of  tho  Artillerist."—^.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 


Auftrian  Infantry  Tactics. 

Evolutions  of  the  Line  as  practised  by  the  Austrian  Infantry,  and 
adopted  in  1853.  Translated  by  Capt.  C.  M.  WILCOX,  Seventh 
Regiment  U.  S.  Infantry.  1  vol.  12mo.  Three  large  plates, 
cloth.  $1. 

"The  movements  of  armies  engaged  in  battle  have  often  been  compared  to 
those  of  the  chess-board,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  there  are  certain  principles 
of  tactics  in  actual  war  as  in  that  game,  which  may  determine  the  result  inde 
pendently,  in  a  great  measure,  of  the  personal  strength  and  courage  of  the  men 
engaged.  The  difference  between  these  principles  as  applied  in  the  American 
Army  and  in  the  Austrian,  is  so  wide  as  to  have  suggested  the  translation  of 
the  work  before  us,  which  contains  the  whole  result  of  the  famous  Field-Marshal 
RADETZKT*S  experience  for  twenty-five  years,  while  in  supreme  command  in 
Italy.11 — New  York  Century. 


D.  Van  Nostrand^s  Publications. 

Naval    Light  Artillery. 

Instruction  for  Naval  Light  Artillery,  afloat  and  ashore,  prepared 
and  arranged  for  the  U.  S.  Naval  Academy,  by  Lieut.  W.  £L 
PARKER,  U.  S.  N.  Secor.d  edition,  revised  by  Lieut.  S.  B.  LUCE, 
U.  S.  N.,  Assistant  Instructor  of  G-unnery  and  Tactics  at  the 
United  States  Naval  Academy.  1  vol.,  8vo.,  cloth,  with  22  plates, 
$1.50. 

"The  service  for  which  this  is  the  text-book  of  instruction  is  of  special  import 
ance  in  the  present  war.  The  use  of  light  bout-pieces  is  constant  and  important, 
and  young  officers  are  frequently  obliged  to  leave  their  boats,  take  their  pieces 
ashore,  and  mameuvre  them  as  field  artillery.  Not  {infrequently,  also,  they  are 
incorporated,  when  ashore,  with  troops,  and  must  handle  their  guns  like  the 
artillery  soldiers  of  a  battery.  'The  Exercise  of  the  Howitzer  Afloat' was  pre 
pared  and  arranged  by  Captain  Dahlgren,  whose  name  gives  additional  sanction 
and  value  to  the  book.  A  Manual  for  the  Sword  and  Pistol  is  also  given.  The 
plates  are  numerous  and  exceedingly  clear,  and  the  whole  typography  excellent." 
Philadelphia.  Inquirer. 


New   Manual   of  Sword  and   Sabre 
Exercife. 

By  Colonel  J.  C.  KELTO.V,  U.  S.  A.      Thirty  plates.     In  Press. 


History  of  the  United  States  Naval 
Academy, 

With  Biographical  Sketches,  and  the  names  of  all  the  Superintend 
ents,  Professors  and  Graduates,  to  which  is  added  a  Record  of 
some  of  the  earliest  Votes  by  Congress,  of  Thanks,  Medals,  and 
Swords  to  Naval  Officers.  By  EDWARD  CHAUKCKY  MARSHALL, 
A.  M.  1  vol.,  12mo.,  cloth,  plates.  $1. 

"The  book  before  us  affords  a  good  account  of  the  naval  school  from  its  first  es 
tablishment  under  the  auspices  of  Secretary  Bancroft,  with  full  statements  of  the 
regulations,  requisites  for  admission,  course  of  study,  etc.  It  isa  seasonable  and 
useful  contribution  to  the  history  of  education  in  this  country/1  —  N.  Y.  Inde 
pendent. 

"  This  is  a  most  welcome  volume.  All  that  throws  light  on  the  history  of  our 
army  and  navy  now  needs  st.udv,  and  the  Naval  Academy,  though  really  so  recent, 
well  deiierves  a  history.  Mr.  Marshall  has  depicted,  in  clear  and  graphic  language, 
the  vain  struggle  for  years  to  give  our  navy,  what  the  navy  of  every  nation  has, 
an  academy  to  Ibrin  the  young  oflicers  for  their  important  duties."  —  N.  Y.  llia- 


agazine,. 

"Every  naval  man  will  find  it  not  only  a  pleasant  companion,  but  an  invaluable 
book  of  reference.  It  is  seldwm  that  so  much  information  is  made  accessible  in 
BO  agreeable  a  manner  in  so  small  a  space.11—  New  York  Times. 


D.  Van  Nostrand^s  Publications. 

A  Treatifc  on  Ordnance  and  Naval 
Gunnery. 

Compiled  and  arranged  as  a  Text-Book  for  the  TJ.  S.  Naval  Acad 
emy,  by  Lieutenant  EDWARD  SIMPSON,  U.  S.  N.  Second  edi 
tion,  revised  and  enlarged.  1  vol.  Svo,  plates  and  cuts,  half 
morocco.  $J-. 

"As  the  compiler  has  charge  of  the  instruction  In  Naval  Gunnery  at  the 
Naval  Academy,  his  work,  in  the  compilation  of  which  he  has  consulted  a  large 
number  of  eminent  authorities,  is  probably  well  suited  for  the  purpose  designed 
by  it— namely,  the  circulation  of  Information  which  many  officers,  owing  to 
constant  service  afloat,  may  not  have  been  able  to  collect.  In  simple  and  plain 
language  it  gives  instruction  as  to  cannon,  gun  carriages,  gun  powder,  projectiles, 
fuzes,  locks,  and  primers;  the  theory  of  pointing  guns,  rifles,  the  practice  of 
gunnery,  and  a  great  variety  of  other  sim-lar  matters,  interesting  to  fighting 
men  on  sea  and  innd." —  Washington  Daily  Globe. 

"  A  vast  amount  of  information  is  conveyed  in  a  readable  and  familinr  form. 
The  illustrations  are  excellent,  and  many  of  them  unique,  being  colored  or 
Lronz  d  so  as  lo  represent  various  military  arms,  &c.,  with  more  than  photo 
graphic  literalness." — Washington  Star. 

"It  is  scarcely  necessary  for  us  to  pay  that  a  work  prepared  by  a  writer  so 
practically  conversant  with  all  the  subjects  of  which  he  treats,  and  who  has  such 
a  reputation  for  scientific  ability,  cannot  fail  to  take  at  once  a  high  place  among 
the  text-books  of  our  naval  service.  It  has  been  approved  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  will  henceforth  be  one  of  the  standard  authorities  on  all  matters 
connected  with  Naval  Gunnery." — New  York  Herald. 

"The  book  itself  is  admirably  arranged,  characterized  by  great  simplicity 
and  clearness,  and  certainly  at  this  time  will  be  a  most  valuable  one  to  officers 
of  the  Navy." — Boston  Commercial  Bulletin. 

"Originally  designed  as  a  t^xt-book,  it  is  now  enlarged,  and  so  fir  modified 
in  its  plan  as  to  make  it  an  invaluable  hand-book  for  the  naval  officer.  It  is 
comprehensive— preserving  the  cream  of  many  of  the  best  books  on  ordnance 
and  naval  gunnery,  and  is  printed  and  illustrated  iu  the  most  admirable  man 
ner." — j\rew  York  World. 


Elementary  Instruction  in  Naval 
•  Ordnance  and  Gunnery. 

By  JAMES  IT.  WARD,  Commander  U.  S.  Navy,  Author  of  "  Naval 
Tactics,"  and  "Steam  for  the  Million."  New  edition,  revised 
and  enlarged.  Svo.  Cloth,  $2. 

"  Tt  conveys  an  amount  of  information  in  the  same  space  to  be  found  no- 
•where  cbe.  and  given  with  a  clearness  which  renders  it  useful  as  well  to  tho 
general  as  the  professional  inquirer." — N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

"  This  volume  is  a  standard  treatise  upon  the  subject  to  which  it  is  devoted. 
It  abounds  in  valuable  information  upon  all  the  points  bearing  upon  Naval 
Gunnery."— JV!  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

"The  work  is  an  exceedingly  valuable  one,  and  is  opportunely  issued." — 
Boston  Journal. 


D.  Van  Nostmnd's  Publications. 


Totten's   Naval   Text-Book. 

Naval  Text-Book  and  Dictionary,  compiled  for  the  use  of  the  Midship 
men  of  the  U.  S.  Navy.  By  Commander  B.  J.  TOTTEN,  U.  S.  N. 
Second  and  revised  edition.  1  vol.  12 mo.  $2.50. 

"This  work  is  prepared  fur  the  Midshipmen  of  the  United  States  Navy.  It  is 
a  complete  manual  of  instructions  as  to  the  duties  which  pertain  to  their  office, 
and  appears  to  have  been  prepared  with  great  care,  avoiding  errors  and  inac 
curacies  which  had  crept  into  a  former  edition  of  the  work,  and  embracing  val 
uable  additional  matter.  It  is  a  book  which  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
midshipman,  and  officers  of  high  rank  in  the  navy  would  often  find  it  a  useful 
companion." — Boston  Journal. 


Gunnery  Inftructions. 

Simplified  for  the  Volunteer  Officers  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  with  hints  to 
Executive  and  other  Officers.  By  Lieut.  EDWARD  BARRETT, 
U.  S.  N.,  Instructor  of  Gunnery,  Navy  Yard,  Brooklyn.  1  vol. 
12mo,  cloth.  .-.  . 

"It  is  a  thorough  -work,  creating  plainly  on  its  subject,  and  contains  also  some 
valuable  hints  to  executive  officers.  No  officer  in  the  volunteer  navy  should 
be  without  a  copy." — Boston  Evening  Traveller. 

"  Lieutenant  Barrett  is  the  Instructor  in  Gunnery  at  the  U.  S.  Naval  Station, 
New  York.  His  book,  which  is  plain,  comprehensive,  and  abundantly  illustrated, 
is  designed  to  be  used  by  naval  officers  as  a  book  of  reference  and  advice  in  the 
performance  of  the  duties  of  their  respective  positions,  and  as  such  it  is  a  val 
uable  manual.1' — Providence  Journal. 

"I  have  looked  through  Lieut.  Barrett's  book,  and  think  it  will  be  very 
valuable  to  the  volunteer  officers  who  are  now  in  the  naval  service." — C.  K.  P. 
EODGEKS,  Commanding  U.  S.  Steam  Frigate  Wabash. 


A   Syftem  of  Target  Practice; 

For  the  use  of  Troops  when  armed  with  the  Musket,  Rifle-Musket, 
Rifle,  or  Carbine.  Prepared,  principally  from  the  French,  by 
Captain  HENRY  HETII,  10th  Infantry,  U.  S.  A. 

"WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ) 

"WASHINGTON,   March  1st,  1858.  J 

"The  System  of  Target  Practice,  prepared  under  direction  of  the  War  Depart 
ment  by  Captain  Henry  Heth,  10th  Infantry,  having  been  approved.  i»  adopted 
for  the  instruction  of  troops  when  armed  with  the  musket,  rifle-musket,  rifle, 
or  carbine. 

"JoiiN  B.  FLOYD,  Secretary  of  War." 


D.  Van  Nostran&s  Publications. 


Rhymed  Tactics,   by   "Gov." 

1  vol.  18mo,  paper.       With  portraits.     25  cents. 

"  It  will  strike  the  military  man,  familiar  with  the  tedious  routine  of  drill, 
by  theory,  practice,  and  memory,  as  a  most  unique  and  valuable  method  of 
strengthening  the  latter,  with  the  least  mental  exertion.  The  author  is  a 
thorough  soldier,  and  his  ability  as  a  rhymester  will  be  conceded  by  any  intelli 
gent  reader.1" — New  York  Leader. 

"Our  author  deserves  great  credit  for  the  ingenuity  he  has  displayed  in 
putting  into  verse  a  Manual  which  would  at  first  glance  seem  to  defy  the  most 
persistent  efforts  of  the  rhymer.  The  book  contains  a  number  of  illustrat  ons 
representing  some  of  the  more  difficult  positions,  in  the  figures  of  which  por 
traits  of  several  prominent  officers  of  the  New  York  Volunteers  may  be  recog 
nized." — New  York  Times. 


Benet's  Military  Law. 

A  Treatise  on  Military  Law  and  the  Practice  of  Courts-Martial,  by 
Capt.  S.  Y.  BENET,  Ordnance  Department,  U.  S.  A.,  late  Assist 
ant  Professor  of  Ethics,  Law,  &c.,  Military  Academy,  West 
Point.  1  vol.,  8vo.,  law  sheep. 


"This  book  is  manifestly  well  timed  just  at  this  particular  period,  and  it  is, 
without  doubt,  quite  as  happily  adapted  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  written. 
It  is  arranged  with  admirable  method,  and  written  with  such  perspicuity  and  in 
a  style  so  easy  and  graceful,  as  to  engage  the  attention  of  every  reader  who  may 
be  so  fortunate  as  to  open  its  pages.  This  treatise  will  make  a  valuable  addition 
to  the  library  of  the  lawyer  or  the  civilian  ;  while  to  the  military  man  it  seerna 
to  be  indispensable." — Philadelphia  Evening  Journal. 

"  Captain  Benet  presents  the  army  with  a  complete  compilation  of  the  pre 
cedents  and  decisions  of  rare  value  which  have  accumulated  since  the  creation  of 
the  office  of  Judge  Advocate,  thoroughly  digested  and  judiciously  arranged,  with 
an  index  of  the  most  minute  accuracy.  Military  Law  and  Courts-Martial  are 
treated  from  the  composition  of  the  latter  to  the  Finding  and  Sentence,  with 
the  Revision  and  Execution  of  the  same,  all  set  forth  in  a  clear,  exhaustive  stylo 
that  is  a  cardinal  excellence  in  every  work  of  legal  reference.  That  portion  of 
the  work  devoted  to  Evidence  is  especially  good.  In  fact,  the  whole  performance 
entitles  the  author  to  the  thanks  of  the  entire  army,  not  a  leading  officer  of 
which  should  fail  to  supply  himself  at  once  with  so  serviceable  a  guide  to  the 
intricacies  of  legal  military  government." — N.  Y.  Times. 


American  Military  Bridges, 

With  India-Rubber  and  Galvanized  Iron  Pontons  and  Trestle  Sup 
porters,  prepared  for  the  use  of  the  Armies  of  the  United 
States.  By  Brig.-Gen.  GEO.  W.  CULLUM,  Major  Corps  of  En 
gineers  U.  S.  A.;  Chief  of  the  Staff  of  Maj.-Gen.  HALLECK; 
Chief  Engineer  of  the  Army  of  the  Mississippi.  Second  edition, 
with  notes  and  two  additional  chapters.  1  vol.  8vo,  with  plates. 
In  Press. 


D.  Van  Nbetrand't  Publications. 

Notes  on   Sea-Coaft  Defence  : 

Consisting  of  Sea-Coast  Fortification  ;  the  Fifteen-Inch  Gun  ;  and 
Casemate  Embrasures.  By  Gen.  J.  G.  BARNARD,  Corps  of 
Engineers,  U.  S.  Army.  1  vol.  8vo,  cloth,  plates.  $1  50. 

"This  small  volume  by  one  of  the  most  accomplished  officers  in  the  United 
States  service  is  especially  valuable  at  this  time.  Concisely  and  thoroughly 
Major  Barnard  discusses  the  subjects  included  in  this  volume,"  and  Drives  infor 
mation  that  will  be  read  with  great  profit  by  military  men,  and  by  all  interested 
in  the  art  of  war  as  a  defensive  force.1' — Jfew  York  Commercial. 

"  It  is  no  li<jrht  compliment  when  we  say  that  Major  Barnard's  book  does  no 
discredit  to  the  corps  to  which  he  belongs.  He  writes  concisely,  and  with  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject." — Russell's  Army  and  A'ury  Gazette. 


A  Treatifc  on  the  Camp  and  March. 

"With  which  is  connected  the  Construction  of  Field  Works  and  Military 
Bridges;  with  an  Appendix  of  Artillery  Ranges,  &c.  For  the 
use  of  Volunteers  and  Militia  in  the  United  States.  By  Captain 
HENRY  D.  GHAFTON,  U.  S.  A.  1  vol.  12 mo,  cloth.  75  cents. 


Steam  for  the  Million. 

A  Popular  Treatise  on  Steam  and  its  Application  to  the  Useful 
Arts,  especially  to  Navigation.  By  J.  II.  WARD,  Commander 
U.  S.  Navy.  •  New  and  revised  edition.  1  vol.  8vo,  cloth.  $1. 

"A  most  excellent  work  for  the  young  engineer  and  general  reader.  Many 
facts  relating  to  the  management  of  the  boiler  and  engine  are  set  forth  with  a 
simplicity  of  language,  and  perfection  of  detail,  that  brings  the  subject  home  to 
the  reader.  Mr.  Ward  is  also  peculiarly  happy  in  his  illustrations." — American 
Engineer. 

Screw   Propulfion. 

Notes  on  Screw  Propulsion,  its  Rise  and  History.  By  Capt.  W.  U. 
WALKER,  U.  S.  Navy.  1  vol.  8vo.,  cloth.  75  cents. 

"  Some  interesting  notes  on  screw  propulsion,  its  rise  and  progress,  have  }nst 
been  issued  by  Commander  W.  II.  WALKKR,  U.  S.  N.,  from  which  all  that  is 
likely  to  be  desired  on  the  subject  may  be  n-adily  acquired.  *  *  *  *  After 
thoroughly  demonstrating  the  efficiency  of  the  screw,  Mr.  Walker  proceeds  to 
point  out  the  various  other  points  to  be  attended  to  in  order  to  secure  an  effi 
cient  man-of-war,  and  eulogizes  throughout  the  readiness  of  the  British  Admi 
ralty  to  test  every  novelty  calculated  to  give  satisfactory  results.  *  *  *  * 
Commander  Walker's  book  contains  an  immense  amount  of  concise  practical 
data,  and  every  item  of  information  recorded  fully  proves  that  the  various 
points  bearing  upon  it  have  been  well  considered  previously  to  expressing  an 
opinion.1' — London  Mining  Journal. 

"  Every  engineer  should  have  it  in  his  library." — American  Engineer. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


DEC 


7  1916 


; 


M/W2419I 


JAN  0  3  I 


30m-6,'14 


U.C.  BERKELEY 


225796 


